Actions Have Consequences
by nmegirl
Summary: Overprotective brothers, Wimpy Boyfriends, Insane Best Friends and Stupid Mistakes are just a few of the things I have to deal with. And all of them come with Consequences. Especially the last one. Just Perfect. As if my life can't get any worse.
1. Maybe I should start from the beginning

Perfect. Just Perfect.

As if my life can't get any worse.

First off, I'd like to say that it wasn't always like this. My name is Amy Swann. Born to Jason and Jennifer Swann, I have 2 annoying brothers. Aiden, who's a fourth year and extremely immature and Jack, who's a seventh year, and who has spent the majority of his education either playing Quidditch or beating up any boys who look at his 'baby' sister the wrong way. His two favourite hobbies. ILovely/I.

All the Swann Kids were in Gryffindor. Jack was best friends with Fred 'Tall, Dark and Handsome' Weasley, James 'Sex God' Potter and Sean 'swoon worthy' Wood. For all four boys, there was a fan girl club (give me a second, while I hurl), and they were regarded as the best looking guys in Hogwarts. Though it always put me off my dinner, seeing the simpering faces of the fan girls leering after my brother. _That's just disgusting_.

Aiden was social, and therefore got on with everyone. He didn't have a particular best friend, because everybody wanted to be friends with him. He was nice like that. Even though he was irresponsible and pranked the majority of the school.

I was in my sixth year. Finished my OWLs with mostly Outstandings and Exceeds Expectations (I got a T in Divination, but only because the crystal ball was full of grey mist, and I told Professor Trelawney that it was broken). I was best friends with Holly Winters, but I got on well with Dominique Weasley, who I shared a dorm with, and Albus Potter, who was just as good-looking as his brother, but unlike James, was never played up as a Greek God.

Family life was perfect. Our father doted on us. I was his little princess, who he would always be overprotective of, plus he could always find time to play quidditch with his two sons. Apparently Quidditch was too rough for Daddy's little girl, so I never learnt to fly on a broomstick. But we were happy. That is until my dad popped to the shops to get some Potions ingredients. 10 years ago. With a suitcase full of clothes. My mum still claims he'll be back any day now and can't seem to accept the fact that he most definitely left us. _Delusional idiot_.

This left us living off no money. Mum had to get two jobs just to pay for the daily essentials, as well as school items such as robes and books. And we've been struggling ever since, feeling guilty for the pressure that we had on our mother.

So now I'm in my sixth year. The strain of NEWTS in the not so distant future, and dealing with normal teenage life, drama and all.

This brings me to my current problem. And I've realised some important points.

1. Alcohol is EVIL. No good can come of it, and only makes you do stupid things.

2. Gryffindor parties are also EVIL. Well, the big ones that include items mentioned in point number 1.

3. Sleeping with a friend, who's your older brother's best friend, who is incredibly hot, at an event mentioned in point number 2, which includes items mentioned in point number 1 is never a good Idea.

And comes with consequences.

Like I said. Perfect. Just Perfect.

Maybe I should start from the beginning…..


	2. My Friend is Nuts

"GET UP AMY!"

"Mhhmfff"

"WAKE UP!"

"Go away"

"WERE GUNNA BE LATE!"

"I'm sleeping."

"MUM WANT'S YOU TO GET UP!"

"Leave me al….GET OFF ME YOU GIT!"

This is how mornings usually are in my house. Mum sends Aiden up to wake me, I refuse to get out of bed, followed by Aiden jumping on me like the ass he is, because he knows it will wake me up. Git.

"You're an annoying ASS you know that?" I screeched at him.

" I know." he said with a smirk. "Mum's cooked breakfast". He slipped out my bedroom door, stifling a grin.

"Annoying, little brothers." I muttered to myself as I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. I was not a morning person, until I'd had coffee, a muggle drink that I'd acquired a taste for. I was not happy, in fourth year when I started drinking it, that they never had it at Hogwarts, so I made Albus take me down to the kitchens. I asked the house elves if they could put some on the Gryffindor table. I can't live without my coffee in the morning.

I got out of the shower, threw on what I was gunna wear, and headed downstairs. Both of my brothers were sitting at the kitchen table. Aiden was stuffing food into his face so fast, I doubt he was breathing in between mouthfuls. Jack looked up when I entered.

"Good Morning" he grinned. It was well known in our house that I liked mornings just as much as Voldemort loved Harry Potter.

"Shut up" I grumbled. I sat down at the table and mum put a plate with a full English in front of me.

"dishisamurzung" My brother yelled to mum, as food came flying out of his mouth.

"That's disgusting" I grimaced. Jack seemed to find it highly amusing and snickered, "Say it, don't spray it!".

Mum just sighed. "I wish you'd learn some manners" she huffed. "Have you all packed ready for school?"

Me and Jack said "Yes" in unison, but Aiden froze, swallowed his food, before pelting up the stairs while we all laughed at how forgetful he was. Even though I loved both my brothers, I was closer to Jack than I was to Aiden. Although everybody loved Aiden, at home and school, Jack was the one who I could talk most to, when he wasn't busy scaring away half the male population at school, from saying a word to me.

After breakfast, Both me and Jack went upstairs to gather our things, ready to leave. As I was picking up one or two last minute items, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. At first glance, I looked nothing like my brothers. I had inherited blonde hair from my mother, along with a slim body. I also had her facial features and her height. Both my mother and myself stood at a height of 5 foot 5. The only thing that was different between us was our eyes. While hers were a deep blue, mine were grey. If I had to pick one thing about me that I loved, it would be my eyes. Although they were grey, they sparkled when I was happy, were dull and lifeless when I was depressed and had been described by many people as being the window to my soul.

My brothers, however, looked the spiting image of my father. Both had brown eyes, muscular builds, and brown hair. Jack was 6 foot 2, and Aiden was already taller than me at 5 foot 7, even though he was two years younger than me. Aiden was a mini-me of Jack, and he hated when we called him that.

By the time all three of us had packed our trunks, and Jack had Missy (the owl me, Aiden and Jack shared) in her cage. It was half past ten, and we all piled into the family car. I think Mum loved the Golf Polo more than us. Aiden once dropped a crumb in the car once, and was grounded from going out with his mates for a week. Charming really.

We reached King's Cross in 10 minutes, leaving us 20 minutes to get onto the train, before it left when the clock struck eleven. Jack pushed his luggage trolley through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, when a group of giggling school kids walked past. I waited for a commotion slightly down the platform, before doing the same.

The sight of the scarlet steam engine, the smoke from the train and all the students talking to others, having not seen them in months, greeted me. I loved home, and spending time with my family, but Hogwarts was another story. The signs of magic were everywhere, from parents helping their children get their trunks onto the Hogwarts Express, to students performing spells, just because they could. It was a comfort when you'd spent the last 3 months unable to do magic because of stupid underage rules. Jack spent all summer, apparating around the house, and transfiguring objects in front of us, so it would annoy me and Aiden, as he knew it would.

"AMY!"

I wasn't paying attention to anyone, so when a big lump of energy, also known as Holly Winters AKA my BFF, threw themselves at me, we both fell down on the floor.

"Gerroff me you Idiot!" I'm such a lovely person.

"Oh my god. Ames I missed you! I haven't seen you in ages! We've got a lot to catch up on" she rambled.

"I only saw you last week." I looked at her confused.

" But a weeks like a year in my time" she said, looking at me like I'd just stepped on her kitten. I really worry about her sometimes. Not to mention she likes to dress her cat up in dresses and cat sized t-shirts. I think she was dropped on her head as a child. At times, I wonder how we ever became friends.

"Where is Speedy anyway?" That's right. She named her cat after a cartoon mouse. But I refused to yell out Speedy Gonzales across the common room, every time he ran away from Holly. I told you she wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack.

" Right here" she grinned, picking up what looked like a ball of fluff. If cats had facial expressions, I reckon Speedy would have a look of pain and embarrassment on his. He did not look remotely amused, to be stuffed into a pink ballerina dress, designed for cats. Maybe I should tell Hols to keep one eye on him at all times. One day, he's bound to get his revenge.

"There's something seriously wrong with you" I mumbled, walking in the direction of the train.

"Thank you" she said completely seriously, as she ran to catch me up, her trunk in one hand and Speedy in the other.

As we made our way past the first carriage, I spotted Jack, man-hugging his three best mates. We walked past, rolling our eyes at the fan girls gathering around them, giggling, every time one of them would say something remotely witty, or tell a joke.

I mean you couldn't blame them for thinking they were hot. They were all drop dead gorgeous. Well, I didn't think Jack was, but I could tell that to anyone who wasn't his sister, he would be considered that. Like I said, you couldn't blame them for fancying them, but deal with the crush in a normal way, don't stalk them, follow them around everywhere, and just get a life. The world DOESN'T revolve around them.

Fred Weasley was the handsome one. He had black hair and naturally dark skin, that looked like he'd spent all his life living in the sun. He played beater on the quidditch team, and spent his time in school getting detentions, and having a laugh. He always said he didn't care about exams, and that he already knew what he wanted to do with his life. And he was the man whore of the group.

Sean Wood had the boyish good looks. He played Keeper for Gryffindor and his smile made girls swoon. He respected girls and treated them well, at least that's what all the girls who he dated said. He had slightly curly light brown hair, and blue eyes.

James Potter could have any girl in school. And certainly a pick of the majority of woman in the wizarding world. Possibly a few muggles too. That was a fact. Why? Because he was a 'Greek God'. His hair was always messy, but in a way that looked like it had been styled like that. He had dark brown eyes, and a muscular body, from playing quidditch for the majority of his life. He was Chaser and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and was pretty much perfect at everything.

And my brother was also chaser. He'd been friends with the other three since meeting on the Hogwarts express, in first year. It took me a couple of months of sharing a dorm with Holly, for me to warm up to her. She was just plain weird to begin with.

"Lets find seats" I said, after waving goodbye to mum, and clambered onto the train.

"Can we find one away from the end of the carriage, because Speedy might try to escape again" Holly added, squeezing him in her arms really tight, as if he already was trying to run away.

As she hopped onto the train I replied "Can you blame him?"


	3. My Brother's Overprotective

As we took our seats in an empty compartment we found, Speedy made his first dash for freedom. Unfortunately for him, we had already anticipated the move and now had him in a cage, only after Holly had added a matching tiara by the way. Poor cat. Maybe one of these days, I'll help him in his great escape. Nobody, not even Grindelwald, deserved that kind of treatment. I think Voldemort might've though. He was a whole new level of evil. Plus maybe it would've disguised his bald head.

"I don't know why he tries to escape all the time" she protested. "He gets everything he could ever want from me."

I snorted. I was very aware of how unattractive it sounded. "Yeah. Everything but dignity."

"I have to agree with Amy" a male voice said from the door. "You treat him like an accessory!"

We both looked up. Standing in the doorway was Jason Davies. Sixth year Ravenclaw. Chaser Extraordinaire. And my boyfriend of five months.

"Jason!" I beamed. "How was America?"

He walked over to me, and sat down on my right side. "It was amazing!" He answered, giving me a peck on the lips. "The weather was ten times better than here. I'm trying to decide whether to move there after graduation or not."

" That's ages away though. You have plenty of time to decide" I smiled. I didn't know what I wanted to do after graduation. Though a Healer sounded good, You needed top grades for that, and I didn't know if I'd cut it. I had good OWLs, but NEWTS were notorious for being hard.

"Well, I've got to start playing my best at school, if I want to get signed to a Quidditch team straight after Hogwarts". Another thing about Jase, he already had his future planned out.

"I'm sure you'll do amazing" I said. He beamed at me before leaning in for another kiss.

"OI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER?"

We pulled apart pretty quickly, and looked to the door again. Standing there, this time was Jack, Weasley, Potter and Wood.

Jack's face had gone red. A sure sign he was angry. Well for a guy who's lifetime goal was making sure his 'little' sister stayed single until she was thirty, seeing her kiss another guy was not top of his 'to do' list.

"If you don't want to lose something VERY vital to you, and you ever want to have children, I'd move away from her now" He growled.

I had just prepared myself to tell my brother that we didn't need to be treated like kids, when Jason moved along the seat leaving a gap between us. I glared at his sheepish expression.

All of my brother's friends were frowning. It was sort of a pact that all of the guys would protect each other's sisters from, and I quote 'Guys with too much testosterone'. Except for Leanne Wood, Sean's little sister who was in second year, all the rest of us were apparently under threat. Leaving me, Lily and Roxanne with annoyingly overprotective big brothers. And then their friends too.

"I'm perfectly capable of deciding who I can, and cannot kiss Jack" I snarled.

"No you're not." he said stubbornly. "You don't know what guy's are like."

"Butt out of my love life!" I snapped. "It's none of your business"

"Yes it is, and you don't have a love life!"

"Why the hell not?"

" 'Cause you're my baby sister!"

While we were having this argument, Potter and Weasley resumed glaring at Jason, who started shrinking back into his seat. _Jeez, no wonder you weren't put in Gryffindor, Davies_.

"Any one want a chocolate frog?"

We all stopped what we were doing, and looked at Holly. Everyone in the compartment, had a wary expression on their face, as if they'd been asked if they wanted McGonagall to streak naked, through the halls of Hogwarts. Mine probably resembled amusement more than anything, being used to Holly's random outbursts.

"No? Okay then, more for me!" before opening up a chocolate frog, and glaring at Wood, for even looking at it.

Oh my god. Were having an awkward silence. I tend to gawp like a fish, trying to think of something to say. Some one say something, please?

"So….." Oh. God. Anyone but Holly. She'll just make the awkwardness worse. Somebody do something. Anything to stop her from speaki…..

"If you were a leprechaun for a day, what would you do?"

If anything, all the guys just looked more scared.

Jason tried to form a sentence. "Well…..I ummm….. Maybe uhhh…." And failed.

"Is she always like this?" Potter whispered in my ear.

"Sadly yes." I muttered back. "But you get used to it."

"Eventually." I added as an afterthought.

Jason got up and walked to the door, he looked back at me with 'I'm sorry' written on his face, but took one look at Jack, who was clearly murdering him with his eyes, and ran down the corridor. _If he had a tail, it would be between his legs right now_.

"Thanks a lot, Jack" I yelled. "Your plan to ruin my life is going according to plan."

"I'm not trying to ruin your life, I'm trying to protect you from getting hurt." He replied. "And anyway, you really want to date a guy, who runs at the first sign of trouble."

"He wouldn't have had to, if you hadn't been so bloody hostile"_ I feel so ladylike right now_.

"I think Speedy is hungry."

Once again, Everyone in the compartment looked towards Holly. She had succeeded in pulling her cat out the cage, even though he blatantly was in no mood to be played with, and everyone now focused on the cat dressed as a ballerina with matching tiara.

"You're not related to Luna Lovegood, are you?"


	4. My Boyfriend is Scared

After coming to the conclusion that Holly was not in fact related to Luna Lovegood, being Muggleborn and all, we were close to Hogwarts, and managed to kick the boys out of our compartment to allow us to get changed.

Holly was trying to change Speedy out of his ballerina dress, and into some Hogwarts robes,. They were cat sized and previously made in Diagon Alley by a confused Madam Malkin, who looked at Holly as if she needed to be in St Mungo's when she asked for them.

"Maybe you could give Speedy some time to not wear clothes. After all, he doesn't look very comfortable."

"He loves it!" she exclaimed. " He's the best dressed cat at school!"

"He's the only dressed cat at school."

I give up. This woman is insane, and there is no getting through to her. _Sorry Speedy. I did my best_.

"I'm going to find the trolley" I told her, feeling the need to get out the compartment, when she started pulling faces at the cat.

As I walked down the corridor, I looked in all the different compartments. In some, first years were sat looking scared, probably thinking of the things that their sisters and brothers had told them they would have to do, to get sorted. thirds years were playing exploding snap, an unfortunate boy getting his eyebrow blown off as I walked by. If you were unlucky, you'd see some of the older students snogging in compartments, and forgetting to close the blinds. How delightful.

"Amy, come in here"

I looked round, and saw Jason holding the door to a compartment open, while he looked up and down the corridor to see if anyone could see us talking.

I growled. Yep, actually growled, before walking towards him. "What's wrong, scared to even be seen with me now", pushing past him and sitting down on the seat. There was no one else in there.

" I'm sorry I left you to deal with your brother. But it's no secret at school, what your brother does to people who go out with you."

"It's not that bad" I argued.

"He cursed all of Toby Gold's hair off in third year just because he held your hand."

"Yeah but it grew back!"

"Pink! It grew back pink! I didn't even know there was a spell to do that." he said, looking bemused. That one was definitely one of my brother's favourite tricks. All used on my potential boyfriends. Annoying really.

"But it was just a prank. Madam Pomfrey was able to turn it back to normal. Anyway, that's not the point! Someone who genuinely wanted to be with me, would put up with all that crap."

"As_ you_ get older, the pranking has turned more violent and you know that."

"So what are you saying." I mumbled quietly, Was he going to break up with me? "You don't wanna see me anymore?"

At once he sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer. "I'm not saying that. I'm just saying you can understand why I'm a bit scared of your brother. No one's ever got his approval. Why would I be any different."

I looked up into his face. He was completely serious, and really believed what he said.

"Just give him time" I muttered. "He's bound to like someone some time. Why shouldn't it be you?"

After sorting things out, I left the compartment, after a quick snog of course.

When the train stopped, I hopped off, and met up with Holly, who'd left Speedy and our trunks on the Hogwarts Express, who was standing with Rose Weasley and Albus Potter.

"Long time, no see!" I greeted them, hugging each of them before moving towards the carriages.

"We heard about the 'Anti-boyfriend movement' in your compartment." Albus smirked. I wanted to hit it off his face so badly.

"Well, you'll be part of it, when Lily, _actually_ starts dating" I shot back. But he didn't stop grinning.

"Ah but you see, with James and all his mates doing the overprotective crap" He responded. " I'm able to play the caring older brother, the one Lil's will like more and who'll comfort her, when the boyfriend gets beaten up by James in the first place. Plus, I don't _actually_ have to take part in the beating." Damn Albus Potter and his ingenious evil plans. I reckon he was Voldemort in a past life. That would be ironic. If Voldemort came back as the son of the man who killed him to begin with.

"Rose, you're so lucky that your brother is younger than you, and doesn't care what you do." I grumbled, as Albus was trying to control his laughter.

"I know. I think I'll be the one making sure the girls are good enough for him." she said. We all climbed into an empty carriage, and then started the trip up to the castle.

"I wish I had a little sister" Holly sighed. "I could dress her up in pretty dresses, and she'd be my friend."

"Is that why you do it to Speedy instead?" I asked. "I don't think he likes you very much."

"Nonsense. He loves me!" she denied.

Albus laughed. "Speedy still being dressed up against his will then?"

"It's not against his will!" She snapped. "He just doesn't know what's _in_ at the moment!"

"Neither do you." Rose said under her breath, and Albus and I had to stifle our laughter. The carriage pulled up next to the castle, and we all got out. When I finally saw Hogwarts, I let out a sigh of relief. There were similar expressions on the other's faces. It's not like we didn't like our families and homes, but it was no Hogwarts. Everything here screamed magic, and you couldn't help but feel you belonged there.

We walked into the Great Hall, and took our seats at the Gryffindor table. The stars were shining brightly above us, from the enchanted ceiling, the sky was clear, and the crescent moon was hanging in the middle of the sky, glowing above us. It was a sight to be seen.

As Jack and his mates entered the hall, the giggling erupted again. "Why won't they just shut up!" I moaned. Hearing the plastic girls of the school, giggling and gossiping was enough to make me throw up. And I was about to eat.

The other's just laughed at me. _Real nice, guys. I feel so loved_. We sat back and waited for the sorting to start.


	5. My Brother Hates Said Boyfriend

All the first years had been sorted into their houses, the only notable Gryffindor addition being Lucy Weasley, sister of fifth year Molly Weasley and relation of the Potter/Weasley family. McGonagall then gave a speech about how the forbidden forest was off-limits to all students, and mentioned the ever-growing list of banned products, made by Filch. After the speech the food appeared.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Albus's eyes lit up, as he dove straight into the chicken drumsticks.

"He's so graceful isn't he?" said Dominique Weasley from my left. Dom shared a dormitory with me, Holly and Rose.

"Now I think about it, none of the guys in your family can eat properly" I shared.

"Or Rose. But it's because she lives with Uncle Ron" Dom added. "He practically inhales his food."

"thasnoffairm" Rose mumbled, her mouth full of food making Dom and I laugh. I looked down the Gryffindor table. Lily Potter and Aiden, who I hadn't seen since the platform, were surrounded by other people in their year, catching up with friends and telling stories about they're summers. Further down, was Jack and his mates, who all had their heads together, like they were planning something.

"Is it just me, or do they look like they're up to something?" All of them, glanced to where I was looking.

"Yeah, but it's them, they're always up to something." said Rose, disregarding it and reaching towards the apple pie, the dessert having appeared.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon anyway" said Albus. "I'm guessing someone's skin will turn red, or it'll start raining in here."

"You know, you'd be just as pretty if you straightened your hair. You should try it some time."

Feeling slight Dejavu, Everyone within hearing range all turned and looked at Holly with looks of bewilderment on their faces. However this time even I had a confused expression, as the statement was aimed at me.

"My hairs already straight" I said slowly.

There was a pause while everyone waited for a response.

"Oh yeah. And it is." She replied, before picking up some treacle tart and eating it, without feeling that anything out of the ordinary happened.

"Has she got nuttier since last year?" Dom questioned. I just shrugged. I felt like that question was gunna come up a lot this year.

When the feast was over, Rose and Albus both left to do prefect duties, leaving Holly, Dom and I to walk up to the common room, after they'd told us the password for the term.

"You know what we should do? Have some sort of get together. We could celebrate the start of the year, as well as our OWL results" Holly announced excitedly.

"Maybe, not tonight though, I'm exhausted." answered Dom, who looked dead on her feet. "Mum made me and Louis get up really early, even though we'd already packed."

We approached the fat lady, where she was talking with one of her friends, Violet. She stopped talking and turned towards us.

"Password?" she asked.

"Devil's Snare." Holly said. The fat lady didn't respond, but swung forward to allow us to enter. We collapsed into some seats near a window, feeling full from the feast, but thinking it was to early to go up to bed.

As time went on, the common room got more and more crowded, especially when the new first years were led in by Al and Rose. After showing them, which dormitories were male and female, they headed over in our direction. That's when we noticed the commotion by the fireplace. Weasley, Potter, Wood and my brother were all laughing as the three latter boys were all pushing Fred Weasley up onto the table.

He cleared his throat before shouting out "Can I have everyone's attention please!"

The noise in the Common Room completely died down as everyone focused on the red head standing on the table.

"Us four have decided, it being our last year at Hogwarts and all," the moans and whimpers from the fan girls being emitted (one girl even burst into tears, pathetic sod), "We're gunna throw a Party here in the Gryffindor Common Room, tomorrow at nine, to celebrate the last year we can call ourselves students. Anyone third year and younger is not invited, as we plan to have vast amounts of alcohol lying around." He made to get off the table. "Oh and another thing. Pass the message on to your friends in the other houses. This will be a Hogwarts party after all." He finished the speech with a grin, making the majority of the girls sigh, before jumping of the table to sit with his mates.

"He stole my idea!" Holly whispered to us harshly.

" I don't think he knew what you were thinking Hols." Dom smirked, as Albus and Rose didn't know what Holly meant.

"We may as well just go to their party" I said. "They'll make sure everything runs smoothly, and we just have to show up."

As the number of people in the Common Room started to dwindle, us girls decided it was time to call it a night and headed up to the dorm. As we entered, all our beds looked the same as we had left them, and we all made our way to our respective sleeping areas. After setting the alarm for school tomorrow at 7:30, I prepared for bed.

"Should be fun eh?" Holly said from her four poster bed.

"What?"

"The Party. Tomorrow." She responded.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess. I'll invite Jason." I decided. It would mean Jase could spend more time around my brother, and they could get used to each other.

"Is that a good idea?" Rose asked, climbing into bed. "Don't you think the less time they have in each others view the better?"

"They don't have to spend all night together." Both me and Dom copying Rose, by getting into bed.

"Well good luck with that idea."

"Thank you. I'll need it."


	6. My House is the Best

The next day started just like any other, only whispers and giggles about the upcoming party in the evening were spreading through the school like wildfire. Everybody was discussing what they were going to wear, who they were going with, and how much fun it was going to be.

"You'd think that people had better things to do than gossip all day" grumbled Rose, as we walked past yet another group of giggling idiots.

"Someone's peeved that they haven't found anyone to go with." smirked Dom,

"I haven't found anyone I iwant/i to go with" snapped Rose. "Who are you all going with then?"

"Well, Dom's going with Danny Finnigan, in our year" I said, pushing my way through the crowds, to get to Potions. "I'm going with Jase, as you know, and Al?" I turned towards him, motioning for him to respond.

"There's this girl, in the year below, called Willow. I asked her this morning." He replied, a blush starting to form on his face.

"Oh my god. Do you _like_ her Albus?" I grinned. Dom caught on, and snickered.

"As in _like_ like her?" she said.

"Oh shut up" he growled, making us chuckle. "What about you Holly?"

She had a dazed look in her eye as she said, "Lorcan asked me after Defence".

"Lorcan?" Rose snapped out of her mood. "As in Lorcan Scamander? Auntie Luna's Son?"

"Yep." She said dreamily. Rose snorted before adding, "They are gunna love you." We filed into Potions, taking our seats near the back. Setting our cauldrons up, I could hear two plastics talking in the row in front.

"So you gunna make a move?" the brunette asked the blonde, who's skirt was so short, she may as well have just worn her shirt to class.

"Of course!" she giggled, flicking her fake blonde hair over her shoulder. "he won't be able to resist, will our Jamsie!"

Obviously I wasn't the only one who overheard, as Albus started coughing, unsuccessfully hiding his laughter, and Rose started making gagging noises. Dom just stuck her fingers in her mouth, miming that she was gunna be sick. My friends are so charming. However, the different reactions, did not go unnoticed by the plastics, who turned around to face the commotion.

I groaned. Of course it would be them. Veronica Hastings and Nicole Retton. Veronica, AKA the blonde, was the biggest slut in school. And she was proud of it. She made it her mission to bed as many guys in the school as she could. _I wonder if she has a list?_

Nicole was Veronica's best friend, though to be honest, she was more like her minion. Ready to carry out any of her plans, or do her dirty work. They were both Hufflepuffs.

"Can I help you?" Veronica glared at us girls, as Nicole batted her eyelashes at Al. He looked so uncomfortable and was looking anywhere but Nicole.

"Nope!" Dom replied, popping the 'p'. "You've entertained us enough already", causing Rose to snort. She seems to do that a lot. After the bell rang signalling the end of the lesson, Veronica stood up, and snubbed us as she left, but making sure she brushed up against Albus. Nicole gave him another simpering look, before running after Veronica.

"I think you have two admirers Al!" Rose smirked, as we packed up our stuff.

"Oh please! Veronica probably just wants to add me to the list of guys she has shagged." He laughed. Hey! Great minds think alike. "And Nicole? Wants whatever Veronica wants."

The rest of the day's lesson passed in a blur, with all the excitement for the party. After dinner, the majority of the girls left early to get ready, leaving the boys, who only had to throw on a shirt and some trousers, to stay behind.

* * *

><p>I was standing in the middle of the dorm in bra and pants. As you do. Holly was already dressed in a cream shift dress, and was in the process of curling her hair magically. Dom was wearing a <em>very<em> low cut red dress, and felt the need to constantly remind us that if you've got it, you should flaunt it. Rose was just sat on her bed, fully ready in a green one shouldered, embellished dress that complimented her hair. And she was reading. READING. Ten minutes before the biggest party of the year would start, and she was reading. That girl has issues.

"I haven't got anything to wear!" I whined, stomping my feet in the middle of the room like a spoilt 5 year old. What can I say? I love drama.

"I'm sure you have something somewhere you can use." said Dom, who started to search through my clothes for something suitable. It took 5 minutes for her to deem all my clothes unacceptable.

"See! I have nothing to wear, and we're going to be late."

"Just borrow something of mine. Purple would look nice on you" Dom said, throwing one of her own dresses at me. It was bandeau, with a ribbon wrapped around the waist. A bow was placed above the left side. I pulled it on, and looked at my reflection in the mirror. Whereas, the other girls, had put quite a lot of makeup on, I preferred the more natural look. With a hint of blusher, a touch of concealer and little bit of mascara, my skin passed for flawless. But nothing over the top. That was Holly's forte. Her eye shadow was multicoloured, for god's sake.

After deciding I was ready, I turned to the others. "We're now twenty minutes late."

Rose put down her book, and walked over. "We're not twenty minutes late. We're fashionably late" she responded. "No one wants to be the first to a party, unless they're the host."

As we were all ready to go, Holly decided to run full pelt down the stairs yelling "PARTY!".

"She's so graceful." Dom sniggered, walking down the stairs. Following her, I added "Maybe it's a good thing she went ahead, we can pretend we don't know her for a couple of minutes."


	7. My Life Just Gets Better and Better

By nine, the party was in full swing. As promised, the alcohol was constantly flowing, though where the boys had got it from I have no idea. As the music played from the Wizarding Wireless, couples and groups were dancing, some more tipsy than others. Sadly, Holly was one of those people.

"How much has she drunk?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows at the latest of her very questionable dance moves.

"A couple of firewhiskeys" Dom replied. "We really should have stopped her after the third. You know she can't hold her drink."

"What is she even doing?" I said in disbelief. She looked more like she was flailing around than dancing.

Lorcan happened to walk over at this point, and managed to catch the end of the conversation. "My mum would probably say that she was hitting away wrackspurts. Honestly, I think she's just drunk."

"No shit, Sherlock!" I rolled my eyes._ Thank you for that, Captain Obvious._

"Who's Sherlock?" Lorcan had a look of confusion on his face.

"Never mind." I replied, "Who's turn is it to look after her for the rest of the night?"

Rose sighed. "I guess that would be me. I'm the only one around here without a hot date." She huffed as she walked over to Holly, and practically dragged her off the dance floor, Lorcan following, highly amused.

"Geroff me" she slurred. "I'm 'forming a sacred rituuuaallll", before tripping over air, and pulling Rose down with her.

"Shut up, Holly" said a disgruntled Rose, as Lorcan fell about in laughter.

As Holly was led away, I kept an eye out for Jase, who had gone off to find us some more drinks. Dom was currently, sat on Danny Finnigan's lap, leaning over towards him, so he had a great view down her cleavage. I subtly nudged Dom off his lap into the space next to him. Well, I say subtly. Dom did not land gently, and Danny was glaring at me. That's what I get for looking out for my friends apparently.

"Sorry it took so long, massive queue for alcohol" Jase handed out the different drinks to me, Dom and Danny. "where's Holly and Rose?"

"Holly's not allowed any more to drink, and Rose is her babysitter for the night" I smirked. "Having fun?"

"I guess" he said looking round the room. I sighed. Jason was obviously looking round in case Jack was hiding, ready to beat him up for any excuse.

"Still avoiding my brother?" I said stiffly.

"I haven't seen him yet. That's what worries me". His cowardice was really starting to get on my nerves.

"Will you just relax? This is a party. Not Azkaban" I pulled Jase over to two chairs on the corner, where hopefully, he could stop worrying so much. " I wanted you to come and show Jack that you're a good guy. That he could trust you."

"I'm sorry, I'm ruining the party for you, I'll try to calm down" I smiled, reaching for his hands. "Good" I said, before leaning in to kiss him.

We were kissing for a few minutes, before things started to get heated. Jase moved his lips roughly against mine, running his hands along my body. I reached my hands up to wrap around his neck , so I could bring us closer together. Feeling the need to breathe, we broke apart gasping. Jase moved his lips down to my neck, and I closed my eyes in bliss.

Without any warning, his body disappeared. I opened my eyes in confusion, about to ask where he'd gone, when I saw Jack holding him against the wall. He'd pulled Jason away from me, had him by the collar and was whispering threats to him. Potter and Weasley, were standing not far away.

"Jack! Let him go!" I scowled. "He hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Nothing wrong?" Jack stared angrily at him. "He was feeling you up! He was taking advantage!"

"For fucks sake! Leave us alone. I don't want you protecting me."

"Get out of here" He dropped Jason from the wall and pushed him in the direction of the fat lady. "Before I kill you for touching my sister."

Jason didn't need telling twice. He picked himself up off the floor and sprinted out of the common room, without looking back. I just glared icily at Jack, before running off after him.

I saw him rounding the corner "Jase! JASON WAIT UP!". As I sprinted in the direction of the Ravenclaw Common room, I finally caught up with him, outside the Charms classroom. "I'm sorry about how my brother acted. I swear it won't happen again."

"Of course it will. He's not gunna want to get to know me. He's not gunna let any guy near you if he can help it." Jase wasn't looking at me. I felt dread start to settle within me.

"But we're ok right? You said you wanted to be with me, but that you were just a bit weary of him." He finally looked up, and I could see sorrow in his eyes.

"I can't do it anymore. I like you, I do." Jase paused, while he was trying to find the words. "It's just not worth it." He turned around and walked off towards his common room.

I could feel tears of anger start to form in my eyes. Some were at Jason. He said he didn't care about Jack. That he wanted to be with me.

But I was most angry at Jack. How dare he? I stormed off towards the Gryffindor common room. When I arrived, I saw Jack laughing with his friends by the fireplace. I stomped towards them, ready to yell at my brother. When Jack saw me, he stopped talking and looked straight at me, with a hard look in his eyes.

"I'm not sorry." He stated. "I would and iwill/i do it again."

"Why don't you just concentrate on your own life and leave mine alone!" I was furious. I was fed up with every guy I'd date ending it with me, because they were scared of my brother.

"I'm just looking out for you" He said in an emotionless voice. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Well Congratulations. Because between you ruining things for me, and Jason dumping me, I've been hurt. So well done!" The tears were falling now, and there was no hiding them from him. I turned and walked to the alcohol table.

After pouring myself two generous cups of elf-made wine, I walked to a deserted table, in the shadows, and prepared myself to get absolutely hammered.

"That was a low blow you know."

"What do you want?" I grumbled, downing the first of the drinks.

"He's only trying to look out for you" Potter added. " He doesn't mean anything by it."

"Shouldn't you be off partying with my brother."

"He went up to the dormitory. Funnily enough, he's not really in the mood to party anymore." That statement didn't help. I was starting to feel guilty. But why should I? I was entitled to have my own privacy, my own relationships, my own life.

"So why are you here?" I glanced up from my table toward Potter. He was casually leaning against the wall, holding a cup of what was obviously alcohol.

"I'm keeping an eye on you." He said. "Albus went up ages ago. Dom and Winters are in no position to be looking after anybody, and Rose is looking after them."

"Well," I downed the second cup. "You can get me some refills then." Potter raised an eyebrow at me, before walking off to the bar to do what I asked. When he came back he said "One more, otherwise, you won't be able to walk properly."

"Agreed."

* * *

><p>2 hours later, after I'd drunk a lot more alcohol that just 'One more', and Potter was just as wasted as me, he was telling me stories of pranks he'd pulled with his friends.<p>

"And then" Potter was laughing in between words "We 'ung Alex Jordan from his pants" His smile got wider, when he realised that I'd found his prank just as hilarious.

"How long did it take his friends to find'im" I giggled. OH GOD. I was a giggler when wasted.

"5 whoole hours!" We were both crying from laughter now. The majority of people had already gone to bed. The only people left up, were too drunk to notice anyone else in the room.

And you planned all your pranks in the Room of Requirement?" I slurred. "I've never. Even. Been there!"

Potter didn't say anything in response. He just stood up, rather unsteadily, and staggered across the common room, pulling me behind him. As we walked through the corridors, we found it rather hard to be quiet, and were really lucky not to have been caught. We reached the seventh floor corridor, and I found it difficult not to laugh as Potter walked up and down three times, wobbling as he did.

I couldn't help but think I was imagining things when I first saw a door appear from nowhere, being intoxicated and all. But Potter grabbed my hand, and pulled me in the direction of it.

Instead of opening and entering normally, we fell through the door, tripping over nothing. After Potter had kicked the door shut, and we'd chuckled about the accident, I realised that I was lying on the floor with him on top of me. I made to get up, but he didn't move. I looked up and found him looking into my eyes with a strange look on his face, an emotion I couldn't read. Then his lips were on mine.

The rest of the night became a blur, with only a few images being clear enough to remember. A bed appearing from nowhere, clothes flying in all directions, Potter's hands caressing my body.

* * *

><p>I woke up, with a massive hangover.<p>

Only after I'd opened my eyes did I realise I wasn't in my dormitory. My bed. And after rolling over and seeing who was wrapped around me, neither of us clothed, we both said the first thing that came into our heads.

"SHIT!"


	8. My Lies are Embarrassingly Bad

"What time is it?" As hungover as I was, I was also still slightly drunk, and I can tell you that trying to get dressed in record time when the walls are still spinning is a challenge.

"I'm not sure" Potter replied, whilst also pulling his shirt and trousers on incredibly fast. "Still early though."

"Good." Walking back to my dorm, in the clothes I was wearing last night, is not something I want advertised to the public in the near future.

"Yeah."

"Great."

"Awesome."

Could this get any more awkward? One word answers. After a night of which I'm sure we were at it like rabbits for the majority, you'd think the awkwardness would have disappeared by now. Obviously that was too optimistic.

We must have stood there, clothes rumpled, staring anywhere other than each other for 5 minutes before I broke the silence.

"I really don't think Jack needs to find out."

Potter let out a small sigh of relief, before his cheeks slightly coloured. If this were any other situation, I might have thought it was cute. Or at least used it for teasing material. It's hard to find things to embarrass the popular crowd.

"Thanks, 'Cause I quite like certain parts of my anatomy where they are."

"Wow it's not just the Ravenclaws who are scared of my brother" I mumbled as I walked out the door of the Room of Requirement.

"What's that suppose to mean?" He yelled as he followed me down the corridor.

"Just that Gryffindors are meant to have a backbone aren't they?" I said, ignoring the awkwardness that was slowly creeping back up.

"It's different. What they were doing was dating his sister. He'll think I committed treason."

We walked the rest of the way in silence. I felt suffocated by it. By the time I reached the bottom of the staircases to the boy's and girl's dormitories, we turned to each other and stood stiffly.

"Ummm….bye?" I'm so good with words. I should become a public speaker when I graduate.

Potter reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked pained as he replied. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to take advantage I…"

"Don't worry about it." I said, trying to find the first step of the staircase without falling back. "You were intoxicated. We both were. We're both to blame."

"Right" He said, but didn't lose the look on his face. "I don't usually…"

"Forget it" I turned and walked up the stairs leaving him behind in the Common room.

I started to open the door to my dormitory as quietly as I could. No need to wake them and explain where I was. Just as I reached the middle of the room, a voice screeched in my ear.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

_Busted._

"I…ummm….well I…." Again, I should really consider some sort of speaking career. Even the Minister of Magic would be impressed with my skill.

"Why weren't you in your bed this morning?" Holly asked calmly, the complete opposite to how Rose had just reacted. Dominique was in bed, with a pillow over her head to drown out the noise. At least I wasn't the only one feeling like shit this morning. Rose was completely fine, if you didn't count the red colour creeping in to her face, and colouring the tips of her ears. _That can't be healthy_. But Holly looked happy. Shouldn't she be hungover or at least a bit subdued.

"I….was kidnapped by house elves?" The fact that I made the statement sound more like a question shows that I am an awful liar. So you can imagine the shock on my face, as well as the shock on Rose's face as she obviously didn't believe me, when Holly jumped up and ran out the room shouting, "DAMN HOUSE ELVES!"

We just stared at the door. Not that I wasn't glad for the distraction. I tried to inch my way towards my four poster bed.

"Not so fast" God, that girl could be a ninja. Wow, maybe I could decide the future careers for all of us. We could donate Holly to be studied in the name of science. I'm sure lots of wizards could learn a lot by what goes on in her brain. And Dom? Stripper, by what I saw of her when she was drunk. Mind you, I wasn't any better.

"Hello? Amy? Have you zoned out?"

_Woops_. Concentrating back on Rose, she did not look happy that I wasn't listening to her rant and rave.

"So are you gunna tell me where you were last night? And why you didn't get back 'til 4 in the morning?" she glared at me. _Think fast, Think fast_.

"I meant that I fell asleep in the kitchens, by the house elves, not that I was kidnapped. Must still be a little drunk." That was actually kind of good. And believable. Well much more believable than being kidnapped by house elves anyway.

Rose stared at me, looking suspicious. So I also said, "After I got drunk, I was hungry, so I went down to get something to eat. And I just fell asleep there I guess." I added a shrug for good measure. _I am on fire, this morning_. Which is strange seeing as I'm still drunk. Maybe I should drink in lessons? Might know the answers to the questions that the teachers fire at me.

"I was worried. Both of them were drunk out of their skulls, and therefore didn't notice when you didn't come up like I did." Great. She's trying to guilt trip me. As if I didn't feel guilty enough already. Dom chose that moment, to leap up and run to the bathroom, followed by the sound of retching.

"By the way, how come Holly's in such a good mood? Shouldn't she be hung over?"

"I gave her some hangover potion." Rose mumbled as she walked over to her bed, to lie down. "Dom was already unconscious before I could give her any."

She chucked a bottle of purple potion towards me, which I hoped was hangover potion. I walked over to my trunk and got something to sleep in, so I could catch up on the sleep I _didn't_ get last night. The bad thing was, I had no memories, apart from flashes. I mean, if karma decided my first time would be when I was drunk and stupid, I should at least be able to remember it. _Stupid Karma_.

I was broken out of my inner monologue, by the door bursting open, and Holly dragging two house elves into the room. "Alright, which one was it?"


	9. My Enemies Are Not Exactly Intimidating

Let me tell you, convincing the two house elves that Holly meant no harm was about as easy as convincing Voldemort to play nicely with the little muggle children. Well you can hardly blame them, she did storm into the kitchens and grab two random house elves by their ankles. And then proceed to drag them up several flights of stairs in the same manner.

"For the last time" I huffed. "I'm sorry I told you that I was kidnapped. It just…came out."

It had been 4 weeks since _that night_. Nothing much had changed, except for the fact I made some sort of half squeak/half scream every time I saw Potter in the distance, before running in the opposite direction. I know I'm sort of a hypocrite, calling both Jason and Potter a coward within hours of each other. And I also know that I was quite cool with Potter on the walk of shame, but give me credit, I was still slightly drunk.

"I've been to the kitchens seven times since then, Ames" She gave me a glare that Rose would have been proud of. "SEVEN TIMES! and each time all the elves run around trying to find somewhere to hide."

"Wow, apparently elves gossip" I sniggered, before being whacked across the back of my head. "OW! what was that for? You know you'd find it funny if it happened to anyone else."

"Sorry." She grumbled, not even remotely sounding like she meant it. As we walked from Ancient Runes to Defence, other people were trying to get to their lessons, and as I was able to multitask by walking and talking at the same time, it seemed others were not. My bag got ripped as someone rushed past and all I got was a quick "Sorry!" as they carried on their way. Jerk.

As I leaned down to pick up the contents of my now ruined bag, I told Holly to go on. By the way she went without even offering to help, I could tell she was still really angry at me. Which was weird, because Holly never held grudges.

After picking up all my belongings, I stood up, only to be knocked down with everything flying all over the place again. _Are you serious? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?_

I reached out for the first book. "Hey, watch where you're…." I looked up, and there was Potter, also on the ground with one of my quills in his hands. He went bright red, and I felt myself do the same. This was the first time I'd been this close to him since the incident, I'd made sure of that.

After a minute, we carried on picking up my stuff, in an uncomfortable silence. When everything had been picked up, I couldn't delay looking at him any longer, and met his eyes. He was staring at me, with a look I couldn't recognise.

"I'm gunna be late." I blurted out, reddening again. "I have defence, which means Professor Trimble, which means a detention for lateness, which means cleaning out cauldrons, which means visiting the hospital wing when I get weird potions on my skin, which means me falling behind in class" I got it all out in one breath. Hey, verbal diarrhoea was better than squealing, especially because he'd be in range to hear it. I'm already embarrassed enough as it is.

He just stood there with an amused look on his face. "Alright then, Off you go."

I was frozen, until I saw his amused look turn into a smirk, and stiffly turned around and walked away. When I turned around in the middle of the hall to see if was going to lessons, he was still staring at me. And then I squeaked.

_So close_, as I ran off in embarrassment, _so close_.

And as I walked into defence, Professor Trimble had already started the lesson. "Your late" He said sternly. "Detention, tonight eight o'clock."

Great.

I sat down in the only free seat, between Albus and Veronica Hastings. Veronica looked angry, but Al looked relieved. I'm guessing she was using the space to send flirtatious looks at him. Did she have no self-respect?

After sitting down and putting my stuff on my desk, I leaned down and used Reparo to fix my bag. When I sat properly again, I had two folded up pieces of paper on the table. I opened the first one.

_Thanks for sitting there, I swear she was about to start tearing my clothes off! - Al_

I smirked, it was hilarious to watch Albus run away from any girl, after all it wasn't like he didn't get offers. I could hardly write back that it was the only seat in the class, so I replied:

_No Probs, want me to hex her? - Amy_

As I threw it back onto his desk, I turned to the other one. Having no clue who this one was from, I opened it hesitantly:

_I saw you with Jamsie at the party_

I panicked. Just what did they see? I knew who it was from, the only person who called Potter 'Jamsie'. I turned to Veronica who just glared at me, but carried on listening to Professor Trimble lecture us on Non-verbal spells. I decided to play innocent.

_I don't know what you're on about._

After chucking it in her direction, I read Albus' response.

_Haha no thanks, but I'll let you know if I change my mind - Al_

Veronica didn't repond to my reply during the lesson, but waited until we were packing up to say "Swann, could you help me find my quill, I've lost it during this lesson."

I nodded, before I started searching around the tables, even if I knew there was no quill to find. "I'll meet you back in the common room then." Al said before leaving the room in a hurry, obviously not wanting to be in Veronica's proximity any longer than was necessary. Eventually, the room emptied.

Veronica stood up and turned to me. "Like I said, I saw you with Jamsie."

"Saw what exactly?" I tried to keep cool, tried to keep a blank look on my face so I wouldn't give anything away.

"You. And Jamsie. In a corner. Looking quite cosy."

I sighed internally. If that was all she knew, I wasn't going to enlighten her on the other details. I let out a snort. "You mean when we were drinking? We were just keeping each other company. We're hardly friends."

"And it'll stay that way." She looked downright bitchy as she said this. "This is our year. The year I get Jamsie to agree to go out with me. We'll marry young and have a perfect family. And I'm not letting anything get in the way of that."

"Yeah, and flirting with his little brother is the way to do that." I turned to leave, but felt her grab one of my arms.

"This is a warning. Stay away from Jamsie, or I'll make your life hell." She flounced past me and walked towards the door.

"What are you gunna do? Toss your hair in my face?"

She turned around, gave me one last glare, before leaving the classroom.


	10. My Best Friend's Not that Oblivious

After spending my evening polishing everything in the trophy room for my detention, I made my way up to the Common Room. My feet hurting and completely knackered, I walked in the direction of the comfy chairs by the fire, when I saw Holly already sat there, doing homework for Charms.

"It must be late if no ones left in the Common Room" I whined as I dropped into a chair. "I polished every trophy in that room three times. Three times! Before Filch decided it was good enough and I could go. That guy is evil."

Holly just murmured in agreement, before carrying on with her work. She didn't even look at me, and that's when I knew that something was wrong.

"You're not still angry with me about the house elves are you?" I said, looking at her for some reaction. "I'm really sorry. I was still a bit drunk so I said they kidnapped me, when I meant that I just fell asleep in the kitchens. Simple mistake."

Holly stopped writing and put her books down, still avoiding eye contact. She stared into the fire as she said "You're lying."

I stared at her. It wasn't usual that Rose bought one of my terrible lies and Holly picked up on it.

"W-w-what?"

"You're lying" she repeated, turning in my direction. "I know you are. Why are you lying about where you were?"

"I'm not" I said, as straight as I could, trying to keep my voice from wobbling.

"You are. If not, what time did you fall asleep?"

I hesitated. It was about half ten by the time I started drinking after I confronted Jack, and we must have been drinking for at least two hours afterwards.

"About one, maybe one thirty."

"And as soon as you woke up, you came straight to the dormitory."

"Uhuh." My story was forming in my head as I spoke. "There was no point just hanging around, especially when I could go back to sleep in my own bed."

"You're lying" she said for the third time that night. "After Rose gave me the hangover potion, I went to sleep. But I woke up at three thirty and couldn't just lay there, so I went down to the kitchens to kill time. I stayed there for an hour and not once did I see you. And then you came back to the dorm at twenty to six."

_Shit_. I was so used to Holly's nuttier side, that I forgot that she did have her serious moments. And she just looked hurt.

"We're meant to be best friends. You're meant to tell me anything, and I'd be ok with it. We're meant to have each others backs and trust each other."

"I'm really sorry." I felt really guilty as Holly just turned back towards the fire. I didn't realise how much of a bad friend I had been, or how much it would affect Holly if she found out. I looked around the room just to double check no one was around, even checking no one was standing on the staircases up to the dorms. Holly just watched me the whole time. When I was satisfied no one was eavesdropping. I turned round and faced her.

"I slept with someone." I blurted. "I was drunk. It was in the Room of Requirement. I don't remember much."

Holly just sat there, mouth open. There was a very dramatic pause before she said "Room of what?"

I just snorted. Trust Holly. I just told her I'd lost my V-card, under the influence, that I had no memory and _that_ is the part that she chooses to focus on?

"Room of Requirement. First time I've ever been there."

She sat back and whistled. "You and your dramatic life. Who was it?"

I hesitated for the second time, but not for as long. "James Potter."

Holly did not respond in the way I thought she would. Mental girl. What did I expect? A smirk started to form on her face and she asked "How'd Jack take it?"

I glared at her. "Jack doesn't know and he won't be finding out. It was a mistake. An _incident_. It's not even a blip on my radar." With a raised eyebrow from her, I added "Alright, I was lying about the last part, but the rest still stands."

The silence this time was a comfortable one, without suspense. All that could be heard was the crackling of the fire.

"Thank you" Holly broke the silence. She had a rare look on her face that showed her real feelings. I was so used to her chilled, dreamy, and sometimes random facial expressions she did, that it was a shock to see how open she was being. "For telling me. For trusting me."

"I should have told you sooner, but it's not like I planned it."

"I know. Hey, we should throw you a party."

I just sat there. What? "A party?"

"Yeah, A 'Congrats on having sex' party."

And Holly was back to her normal self. Was it weird that it was slightly comforting? "No Holly, we should not have a 'Congrats on having sex' party."

"How come?"

I just looked at her with a bemused expression. God help that girl.

"Because you're the only one who knows, and I don't feel like broadcasting it to the entire student population and possibly a number of professors."

"That's not true. Potter knows."

"Trust me, sitting in the same room as Potter, while you hand out slices of cake and play party games is one of the most awkward scenarios I can think of."

"It was only an idea."

"And it will stay that way."

Holly pouted before breaking into a grin. As we both started chuckling, I couldn't help but be glad that I'd shared my secret with someone. And even better, my best friend.

A tartan coloured ball of fluff whizzed past us, but Holly was quick enough to grab it and place it in her lap. Speedy's escape number two had been foiled, and he was dressed in the latest themed outfit.

"Tartan? Really"

"What? We're in Scotland, aren't we?"


	11. My Problems Just Got Worse

The next morning, was a Saturday, meaning that all the girls were still laying in bed having a lie in. Well usually that means sleeping, but in our own personal girl world, lie in meant literally 'lying in bed' while we discuss some of the more important things in life.

"Did you hear that Veronica slept with both Gregory Pilkins from Ravenclaw and Robert Flint from Slytherin. At the _same_ time."

Well, important to some people at least.

We all stared at Dom. Loving the attention she was getting form us she added "In a broom cupboard."

"Seriously? That girl has reached new lows" Rose said as she pushed herself out of bed.

"I know, it can't have been comfortable. Broom cupboards are pretty small" Holly said as she rolled out of bed. She literally _rolled_ out of bed. Landed on the floor and everything. Being used to her daily routine however, no one in the room even batted an eyelid at her weird but wonderful ways.

"Not really the bit we were focusing on Hols." I stretched out in bed, feeling a little queasy.

"Alright girlies, it's time to get up. It's eleven thirty, and we all got stuff to do so…Vamoosh!" Rose walked over to Dom after telling us to get up and pulled her bedding off her.

Dom pulled her legs up towards herself. "Traitor" she grumbled as Rose smirked, picking up the clothes she would be wearing today. "It's too early, you can wake us up at seven on a weekday, but leave us alone on the weekends, alright?"

"_You_ have Quidditch practice soon. Ames _always_ comes to the library with me for an hour as long as I let her use the prefects bathrooms on Sundays, and Holly…." she trailed off before having a look of confusion on her face. "What do you do on weekends Holly?"

"She does lots of things, don't you Hols?" I smirked.

"Of course. I've got to organise Speedy's outfits, have a wheelbarrow race, see how many people I can get in a broom cupboard, play 'fly on the wall'. You know, the norm."

Rose just stared at Holly, while I snickered. Dom asked "What's 'fly on the wall?' which sobered me up quickly, before I scowled.

"It's a stupid game. She doesn't even warn people that they're playing it. In third year, she dragged me into a classroom, and stuck me to the wall. I didn't notice that there were other people there. Basically it's whoever stays up there the longest."

"Did you at least win?" Dom laughed.

"Nope, got myself down, didn't I? I think a first year did. They didn't know much magic then, so they didn't know how to get down."

As Rose walked towards the bathroom, the queasy feeling I was experiencing escalated, and I knew I was going to be sick. I pushed Rose out the way as I sprinted into the bathroom, before throwing up into the toilet.

I felt a pair of hands pull my hair out of the way, as another pair was rubbing soothingly on my back. When I'd finished hurling, I fell to the cold, tiled floor and rested my head against the wall. Both Rose and Dom were staring with a worried expression on their faces.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked.

"mfft" I was exhausted. _Who knew throwing up was such hard work eh?_

"Did you eat something bad last night?" Dom said, who was now rubbing soothing circles on my arm.

"I didn't eat anything last night." I closed my eyes. "I had detention, remember?"

Rose helped me up, and in the direction of the dormitory. "Maybe you have the flu. I think you should go see Madam Pomfrey."

"No, its alright. Just give me a minute. You don't mind if I don't come to the library do you?"

"Don't worry about it. You can come for two hours _next_ Saturday." She smirked as I groaned. "I do think you should at least stay in bed though."

Holly was still on the floor by her bed. "What just happened?"

* * *

><p>They tried to look after me all day. Dom left at twenty past twelve to go to practice, but came straight back when it was over to see if I was ok, even if I wish she'd had a shower first. Holly even gave up her plans to kidnap strangers in the halls and stuff them in a broom cupboard, just to try to make me feel better.<p>

"Trust me, I'm starting to feel better." I said. They wouldn't believe me though, honestly. I tell them terrible lies and they gobble them up, but if I tell the truth, they ignore me. Nice.

"Flu just doesn't go away like that." Rose said, as she plumped up my pillows. "It usually lasts at least a week."

"She could have a twenty four hour bug." Dom suggested.

"She hasn't had it for twenty four hours." Rose sighed. "Maybe you were right Dom, maybe she did eat something bad, but yesterday lunchtime perhaps?"

"Can you stop talking about me in third person?" I huffed. "I can hear you, you know."

"Lets ask Lorcan." Holly contributed. "His mum is bound to know what's wrong with her."

"We won't be asking them anything." Rose said. "As much as I love Aunty Luna, she's barking. Dad told me once that when she was a Quidditch commentator, she said one of the players was suffering with 'Loser's Lurgy'."

Dom placed a thermometer in my mouth, Only god knows where she got that.

"She's not burning up. I really don't think this is flu."

"I'm _still_ here!" I pulled myself out of bed, throwing the covers off in the process. I ignored them saying that I shouldn't be out of bed. "I am fine. I just had a dodgy stomach. Do I look ill?"

Dom and Rose both shook their heads. But Holly looked me up and down and said "Well…."

"Don't answer that" I snapped. "It was rhetorical."

"It's six o'clock. I have been kept in bed, against my will, for over six hours. Damn it, I am hungry. No one is stopping me from going to the great hall, and eating anything I can get my hands on."

As they started to walk out of the dormitory and down the staircase, I heard Dom scoff "She's probably not ill. just pmsing."

Pffft. Pmsing? In order to PMS, I'd actually have to have had my…

_Wait a minute_

I was overdue. With all the drama and stress I'd had over the last couple of weeks, I hadn't noticed.

So as I stopped following them, time stood still.

I'd been throwing up.

I was almost always tired.

I hadn't noticed that I was over a week late.

I'd most likely had unprotected, drunken sex.

As I started to hyperventilate, I came to only one conclusion.


	12. My Conscience Just Showed Up

_Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit_

"Something wrong Ames?"

I was currently sat at the Gryffindor table in the great hall. It was dinner time, and even though I'd been extremely hungry earlier, funnily enough I'd lost my appetite.

Albus was the one who had spoken. I looked up from my plate, hardly touched, to see a look of concern on his face.

"Something wrong? Nope, nada, zilch. I'm fine, swell, just dandy. How are you?" _Wow. 'Cause you didn't sound like an idiot._

"I'm alright." Al gave me a look usually reserved for a remark made by Holly, before looking away and leaving me to stare at my plate again.

_Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit_

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

I jumped. Jack slid into the seat next to me, bringing along his band of mates as well. I really didn't need this right now. Potter was looking anywhere but me. Can't really blame him, to be honest.

"She probably looks pale because she's been throwing up all morning." Shut up Holly. Shut up right now.

Jack glanced towards me again before he whispered to me "What's wrong? You sick?"

The situation kept getting worse. I was sitting next to my brother who's best friend, sitting across from us, had slept with me while we were drunk a couple of weeks ago. Quite a few times in one night. This was not an ideal scenario.

"Just a bug. It's already passed."

He didn't look convinced, but turned to Weasley to start a conversation about the Quidditch League. This left me again, able to go off into my thoughts again. Well, single thought.

_Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit_

I stood up quickly, grabbing attention from all my friends, my brother and his mates. "I'm tired" I mumbled, before turning to Dom, Rose and Holly. "See you up there".

I barely looked where I was walking. How could I have been so stupid? I should have been able to control myself that night. Now I'm in a mess and a pretty big one. Before I knew it, I had reached the astronomy tower.

It was easy to think up here. The view of the Hogwarts grounds had always managed to calm me in the past. I just hoped it would work now.

I was an idiot. And I didn't know what to do.

_It's your own fault_ a voice sounded in my head. _You can't blame anyone else but yourself_

Oh, hello there conscience. Where were you four weeks ago? I could have used your help. You know, something to let me know that having sex with Potter whilst under the influence, wasn't top of my to-do list.

"Amy?" I turned around to see Holly standing by the top of the stairs. I glanced at her, before turning back to the view. "Are you ok?"

I didn't reply straight away. I'd already lied to her lately, I didn't want to do it again.

"Not really."

"Want to talk about it?"

I was conflicted. She was my best friend. If there was anyone I could tell, it would be her. But at the same time, I didn't want her to judge me. She was the only person who wasn't related to me, wasn't related to Potter, or likely to spread it round the school. And that's what decided it for me.

"I might be pregnant."

* * *

><p>Sitting in the stands watching the Gryffindor Quidditch team practice was not how I wanted to spend my Sunday. Rose had dragged me there to watch them because she was bored and wanted company. So me being the most selfless, amazing, intelligent, witty person I am, came without a fight.<p>

"Stop moping. Just because I'm stronger than you."

Alright. So the fact I came without a fight was a lie. But the rest is still true. I was still thinking of my little problem. However, because I told Holly, it felt like it wasn't my problem anymore, and I pushed it to the back of my mind.

"I'm not moping. It's cold."

"I thought you liked Quidditch?"

"I like watching the matches. Watching practices, especially in October when its freezing, not so much."

Rose, although every inch the bookworm her mother was, always found time to watch every other practice, as well as subtly putting across her opinion of some of the plays that were tried out by the team.

"OI! JAMES! YOUR PLAYS ARE SHIT! TRY MAKING SURE EVERYONE CAN BLOODY STAY ON THEIR BROOMSTICKS!"

She huffed before standing up and making her way down to pitch, leaving me in the stand on my own. Lower down, I could see Veronica leaning over the edge of her box. Hmm. If I was still feeling sick, (which had bloody happened again this morning, luckily without waking up any of the others), I could try and aim for her head, like target practice. I grinned to myself.

"Ames?" I recognised Holly's voice, but didn't turn round. I knew what she would want to talk about.

"Ames you can't ignore the problem."

"I know I can't." Finally responding, I gestured towards the seat next to me, indicating her to sit down. She moved towards me and dropped into it.

"Does he know?"

"Who?"

"The Minister of Magic. I hear he's interested in teen drama. Potter! Who do you think?"

I glared at her. "You could have been talking about Jack. Or Aiden. or Albus. We know a lot of he's Holly."

I instantly felt bad about a two things. One, it wasn't her fault and I should stop taking it out on her. Two, I hadn't seen much of Aiden since the start of term and had no idea what he was up to, (mind you he had no idea what I was up to either.)

"Well? Does Potter know? Or Jack, now that you mention it."

I watched as Potter and Jack worked together to get the quaffle through the left hoop. After scoring, Jack slapped Potter in a brotherly celebration, before speeding down to pick up the quaffle while Potter looked at the other players to see how they were coping with his plays.

"No. Neither of them do. I'm not telling anyone 'til I've decided what to do."

"You mean if you're gunna keep it?"

"Abort it. Keep it. Put it up for adoption. One of them."

"I know I'm just the friend you confided in. And that I have no idea what it's like to be in your position. But don't you think that Potter should get a say?"

"I-I…" didn't think about that. Watching Dom make a dive to save the quaffle from being put through the hoops, I added "It'll ruin his life."

"You don't know that." Holly said sympathetically. "You should take a test."

I didn't want to. Not only did I not want to face the looks of the apothecary owner in Hogsmeade or tell Madam Pomfrey about my situation, I was scared to take the test. It made everything so real.

"You never know, you might just be stressed."

I snorted. Either way, the world hated me. One way, I'm pregnant and unable to finish my education, I'd survive by eating out of people's bins and begging in Diagon Alley. The other, the world gives me one hell of a scare, for the hell of it, It drives me crazy, and I end up in St Mungo's. Either way, my future isn't looking so bright.

Holly could clearly see the fear on my face.

"Tell Potter. I'll take care of getting the tests."


	13. My Friend Gave Me a Challenge

Tell Potter. Easier said than done. Seriously? Holly couldn't have given me a harder task. While she was happily skipping off to go in search of sticks to pee on, I had to tell Potter that he had unintentionally fathered my spawn. Not exactly a normal conversation starter. And even considering telling him made me think of all the other people that had to find out sooner or later.

I mean, how do I tell Jack, Aiden, Rose, Dom and various other people that I'm having a baby?

_'Hey, how are you? Oh by the way, I'm gunna pop out a relation of yours in a matter of months. So the weathers crap huh?'_

They'll take it really well, and even Jack will be happy that his best friend shagged me and now I'm up the duff. Not. But I can only hope.

So over the next few days, I found myself actively looking for Potter around school, instead of running in the opposite direction. And every time I saw him, I'd walk towards him. Until at least I got half way there, and ran into the nearest classroom.

I always bottled it. I'm meant to be a Gryffindor, for God's sake. It took me until the next Thursday, four days since Holly set me the task, to get the courage to make it past half way.

The next time, when I saw Potter sat in the corner of the common room with a pile of papers in front of him on his own, I decided to just bite the bullet, rip off the band aid, jump into the pool.

You get the picture.

As I walked towards him, looking around at everyone else in the room to wonder if they would hear us, I started chanting to myself. _You can do this. You can do this._

"Can I talk to you?"

He looked up from what he was doing and made eye contact. Which was immediately broken when he also started to check if anyone had noticed me going up to him.

"Sure."

I sat down opposite him. To delay the inevitable, I started looking for things to talk about.

"What you doing?"

Well done Amy. Have sex with him, avoid him for weeks, and then turn up out the blue and ask what he's up to. That's not weird at all.

The look on Potter's face clearly showed he was thinking the same thing. With a bemused expression, he answered "Just Quidditch plays."

"Ah"

We sat in silence, until Potter said "You wanted to talk to me?"

The time had come. I couldn't delay it any longer. "Yes. Umm. I…"

"OI JAMES! FINAL QUIDDITCH PRACTICE BEFORE THE BIG GAME!"

Potter looked aggravated as he got up and walked to the bottom of the staircase to the boys dormitories. The Shout had come from up above.

"I know Sean, I arranged it. Me being captain and all. I'll meet you down there."

What with all the commotion, and the fact that everyone's eyes were on Potter after he yelled his reply, I knew everyone would notice if he walked back over to the table with me sitting there. So I got up and walked out the portrait hole, before he could turn back in my direction.

When I was walking down the corridor in no particular direction, I heard the portrait close a second time and him shouting "Amy wait up!"

I stopped and waited for him to catch me up. He started fidgeting with his hair again, as he said "What did you want to talk about?"

"It…"I thought about what I was going to say. But instead of telling him of my predicament, I took the cowardly way out again. "It doesn't matter. It can wait."

He did not look convinced. "You sure?"

"Yep. Nothing important." _Nothing important, my ass._

Oh hello again conscience. I really don't care what you think right now to be honest.

"Alright then" He ran his hands through his hair once more, before adding. "I better get to practice. Captain's got to get there on time."

"Yeah sure. See you round" Potential father of my child. Frick.

I walked off in the direction of the library, needing to get away as quickly as possible. I kept thinking of reasons why it was a good thing I didn't tell him right now. He _was_ about to play quidditch, and if he was distracted he would probably end up with a bludger to the head. Which would be my own fault if he died.

But nothing I said could drown out the voice in my head that kept telling me that there were no excuses. I chickened out.

* * *

><p>"And it's Potter with the quaffle, passes to Swann, who throws it to Wood, who approaches the hoops and…..SCORE! So that's 60-20 to Gryffindor!"<p>

The whole of the Gryffindor stand roared with celebration, as the Hufflepuff Keeper flew down to retrieve the quaffle. The first Quidditch match of the year was in progress, with the whole of Hogwarts divided into supporters for both teams.

I was sat in between Rose and Holly, as we watched from the back row. Being late meant the worst seats. And Rose was not happy.

"Did you really have to take so long trying to find your wand Holly? Now we're stuck with shit seats." She glared at us for holding her up. In Holly's defence, she wasn't really looking for her wand. She actually spent most of the time holding my hair back as I threw up iagain/i while Rose was downstairs in the Common Room. Being the best friend she was, she covered for me.

"You know I won't go anywhere without it." Holly responded. "Oh look is that the snitch?"

Rose whipped her head round to look at where she was pointing. "You can't be serious?" Rose shouted in Holly's general direction. "That's a bludger. How many matches have you been to again?"

Holly just shrugged. She was not exactly the world's biggest quidditch fan. "They all look the same to me" she said, which horrified Rose, before she stood up to get a better view.

"And the quaffle is now in Hufflepuff possession, with Floods flying straight for the Gryffindor hoops. She takes a shot…SAVED BY WEASLEY! That's Dominique Weasley keeping the score at 60-20."

"You talked to Potter yet?"

I glanced to Rose to see if she heard but she was so enthralled in the game, she wouldn't notice if a meteor crashed into the pitch. I looked to Holly as I said "I tried. But it wasn't the right time."

"Well you better find the right time. My mum has sent a load of muggle pregnancy tests. And I had to go down to the apothecary and get sent dirty looks as I picked up a load of the Potion tests they have."

I just looked shocked. "You told your mother? She's going to bloody write to mine."

"Relax" she stated calmly. "I told her I might be. She's cool. I'll just take one myself and send back the negative one. she'll be thrilled."

"No need for the heart attack" I said, watching the game play on.

"AND ALBUS POTTER HAS SEEN THE SNITCH! Smith tailing him, but with that broomstick, he's not going to catch up. Potter speeding up….AND HE GRABS IT! GRYFFINDOR WIN 210-20!"

Rose screamed along with the rest of Gryffindor. "We thrashed them" she said smugly as she made her way out of the stand with everyone else.

As we were making our way back up to the castle, I spotted the changing rooms. And decided I'd hold my head high and just do it. Right Now.

"I'll meet you up there" I said to Holly. She understood as she saw me glance to the changing rooms again, and whispered "Good luck!" before following the crowd.

I made my way to a bench just out of view by the side of the entrance. After watching all the students walk back to their Common Rooms to celebrate or commiserate, the teams started coming out; some singing, some moping. I saw as Dom and Al walked up to the castle with grins on their faces. Before long, the only people left were Potter, Jack, Wood and Weasley, who played beater.

"You coming James or what?"

There was a pause before he replied, "You go, I'll catch you up."

First Jack came out, who was larking about with Wood as they left. Followed by Weasley, who kept yelling about the party that would be waiting for them. If Potter was in the same kind of mood, it would be a lot easier to at least talk to him.

Finally, Potter came out, shaking his hair that was still wet from the shower. Heart thumping, I called out.

"Potter?"

He turned around towards my voice. When he saw me, he had a look of surprise on his face.

"Hey. What are you still doing out here?"

My throat closed up. I didn't respond. Probably looking as scared as I felt, I think Potter took pity on me as he didn't wait for me to say anything.

"Is this about what you wanted to talk about yesterday?"

I couldn't breathe, I was so nervous. But I nodded.

He walked over and sat down next to me. "What is it?" he asked, making me finally breathe in, but start to hyperventilate. Calm down, it'll be fine.

"Are you ok?"

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"I think I might be pregnant."

**A/N: Duh Duh Duh.  
><strong>  
><strong>So what do you think his reaction will be? Will he stay or will he go? Either way, there's sure to be lots of drama :P<strong>

**nmegirl**


	14. My Future Hangs in the Balance

"Potter?"

"Can you hear me?"

I had resorted to waving my hand in front of Potter's face. Not quite the way I though he'd react. I though he would have stood up and left, after calling me every name on the planet. Twice. But that wasn't how he'd reacted at all.

Potter had frozen.

"Potter?" What if he was dead? Maybe I'd given him such a shock, his heart had stopped. How would I explain that away?

"James?"

I whispered this time. But his head whipped to face me. He looked hesitant as he responded.

"Is it mine?"

I felt the heat build up in my face, as the anger flooded through me. "Of course it's yours! I don't sleep around!" As I released the anger towards him, I realised just how much those three words had hurt me. _I'd have to get used to that I thought._ _It's not like everyone else in school won't think that, if they find out._ "I'm not that kind of girl" I mumbled.

"I'm sorry. It's the first thing that popped into my head." He looked down as he said this. "What do you mean you _think_?"

"I've been throwing up. I'm always tired. And I'm…"This was one of the most uncomfortable conversations I'd ever had. "I'm late."

Potter just had a confused look on his face. "You're what?"

"I'm _late_. As in the painters and decorators haven't showed. Aunt Flo has sent someone else in her place. I'm…"

"Alright, I got it." He looked like he'd rather die than hear that speech again. "Have you done a pregnancy test?"

"Not yet, but Holly's got some for me to use." This time I was the one who was looking down. I couldn't help but think that I had just ruined his life. Lumbered with a kid at seventeen. And that was just him. _I'm sixteen and pregnant._

"Let's go do one then."

My head snapped up. Potter had a determined look on his face. "Before we come to any conclusions, lets find out whether you are pregnant or not."

I nodded. He helped me stand up from the bench, and then we walked up to the castle a metre apart. I was fidgeting, and he was running his fingers through his already messy, wet hair.

* * *

><p>We ended up outside the Room of Requirement again. Potter told me he would wait outside for me to go get Holly, and then we'd all go in together. I gave him a half-smile, before heading off towards the Common room.<p>

As I entered the loud Gryffindor party that was already in full-swing, I looked around for Holly in the crowd of people. After a couple of minutes of searching, I finally found her talking to Al near the fire.

"Holly" She turned in my direction. Her eyes lit up and she walked towards me, Albus turning to find someone else to celebrate with.

"Hey" She whispered. "Should I be sending you a cake saying "Congratulations on your baby", or searching for Ice Cream and drowning your sorrows?"

"Still deciding on that second one" I muttered. "I need you and those tests."

Holly's face changed from happy to understanding. "I'll get them now." She ran up the stairs, leaving me to wait at the bottom.

"Hey sis, having fun?"

I span around. Jack was standing behind me with a drink in his hand, eyeing a brunette across the room. Hypocrite.

"Umm… Yeah. Tons"

"Want a drink?" He was reaching over towards the bar, as I yelled really loudly in his ear.

"No!"

He pulled his arm back as he frowned in my direction. "What is going on with you lately? You've been acting really strange since school started. What's wrong?"

I didn't think he'd notice too much. I always forgot how close we were, and how he could always get whatever I was worried about out of me in the past. But I couldn't tell him, no matter how much I wanted to. How much I needed his support. I knew I wouldn't get it.

"I'm fine." I lied. "Stress of NEWTs. That's all."

"I got them." Holly came rushing down the stairs, with a bag under her arm. Both me and Jack were staring at her before Jack said, "Got what?"

"Witch Magazines." I said quickly as Holly noticed Jack had been standing there. "We're going to go relax, gossip and read girly stories. So we're not so stressed from NEWTs."

Jack looked suspicious but let it slide. "Alright then." As Holly walked out the portrait hole, and I started to follow her, Jack replied "You know you can tell me anything right?"

_Not anything._ I nodded before following Holly out into the corridor.

"Where we going then?" I caught up to Holly and then started pulling her in the direction of the seventh floor.

"Room of Requirement."

"I get to go there? Awesome"

As we rounded the corner onto the seventh floor corridor, I saw Potter sat on the floor with his head held in his hands. A new wave of guilt washed over me as we approached him.

He heard us coming and looked up. "Got them?" We nodded, as he stood up and started walking up and down the corridor. It wasn't as funny as last time we were here. After the third time, the door appeared in the wall again, and Potter lead us into the room he had thought of. It was quite basic, a seating area surrounding a small coffee table. On the other side of the room, there was another door on the wall.

"So. This is where the magic happened is it?" She giggled. "This is where it all started."

Both Potter and I glared at her so ferociously, that the smile fell of her face and she had the decency to look apologetic. "Right, I'm gunna go."

"What?" I panicked. "Why?"

"You don't need me here. It's not like I can pee on a stick for you. Oh that reminds me." She reached into the bag she was still carrying and pulled out one of the muggle pregnancy tests. "I've gotta pee on this one and send the negative test back to my mum."

"You're gunna send your mum a stick you've pissed on?" Potter asked, having been relatively quiet up until this point. When Holly nodded, he added "Never send me anything yeah?"

Holly snorted before I said "But I need you here." I was close to tears at this point. I needed the support, I couldn't do it on my own.

"You really don't. And anyway, Potter will be here. This is between you two." She gave me a hug before leaving, yelling over her shoulder, "I better find something to do away from Gryffindor Tower. Seeing as we are 'going to go relax, gossip and read girly stories'" She smirked as she closed the door.

Without looking in Potter's direction, I walked to the bag that Holly had left behind. I took out both a Potion test, and a muggle Pregnancy test. The Potion test would take ten minutes to tell you the result, and as the muggle one only took five minutes, I decided to start with the potion ones.

"Could you help me with this one?"

Potter walked over and asked "What do you need me to do?"

"Well, this one just needs a drop of blood in each Potion, it's the muggle ones I have to pee on." Potter picked up his wand and placed it on the tip of my finger. "This may sting a little."

I hissed as it pricked my finger, allowing a bead of blood to fall into the first of the potions.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault." I squeezed my finger until all five potions were prepared. I then took the 4 remaining muggle tests, towards the door on the opposite wall, hoping that Potter had thought to put a bathroom there.

It was in fact a bathroom, so I started to carry out the tests. When I'd successfully managed to pee on all four, without getting it all over the place, I returned to the seating area and placed them on the coffee table. I then sat next to Potter.

"How long will it take?"

I sighed "I did the potion ones first and they take ten minutes. And then I did the muggle ones, which take five. So hopefully they'll show at the same time." I looked at my watch. "So I think only four minutes left to wait."

We sat quietly. "How long now?"

"Still four minutes."

"What about now?"

"Time hasn't got any faster."

"Sorry."

We sat rigidly next to each other, for about thirty seconds, before Potter talked again. "What are you gunna do? If it's positive."

"I'll have to decide I guess."

Potter frowned, before asking "Decide what?"

"Whether I keep it, abort it, or put it up for adoption."

Potter paused before hesitantly saying "You can't put it up for adoption. I know it's your choice, but in our family, adoption's never been an option. Auntie Andromeda died when Teddy was seven, and not once did anyone even suggest that he go into care. He came straight to live with us. He's always been another brother to me."

I considered what he was saying before adding, "I don't know if I'd be able to go through with an abortion."

"So what are you saying?"

"If you're so against adoption, I guess I'm keeping it."

We were staring at each other, as we both thought about this future that had been decided, if I _was_ pregnant.

"How long now?"

I checked my watch a second time. "About two minutes now." Potter sat forward, putting his head in his hands for the second time that night. What would we do? I could hardly ask my mum to help feed another mouth, when she's working so hard just to give us the basic necessities as it is.

"If you keep it…"

I was contemplating my future so much, that I hadn't noticed Potter lift his head and turn in my direction. "If you keep it, I'll give you the money you need. And if you need me to be there, I will. It takes two."

"I just don't want to be on my own." I glanced towards my watch again. "It's time." We both waited for the other to look. "Can you do it?" I begged. "I can't look."

He stared at the table before saying " We should look at one each, at the same time."

Eventually, I agreed and we both picked a muggle stick up. A smiley face looked up at me. When I looked in the direction of the potion tests, in unison, they all turned pink. Potter had the box that the muggle tests came in, as well as the directions on how to use the potions. "Well? What do they mean?"

He looked up at me. "You're pregnant."


	15. My Younger Brother's Too Good to be True

Even after seeing the positive tests, it's hard to believe that everything that's happened in the last couple of weeks is real. I mean can you blame me? Apart from throwing up at dawn every single bloody day, the only thing we have to prove that I'm actually knocked up is a line on a stick. _Well_, many lines on many sticks.

So now I had a problem. Another problem. Somehow I have to get to St Mungo's to get checked by a healer, which will not be easy. It's one thing to sneak out to Hogmeade once in a while, but somehow I don't think I'm going to be able to get from Scotland to London without my absence going unnoticed.

"So any ideas?"

I was currently brainstorming for ideas with Holly, which now I think about it probably wasn't the best idea.

"How about you scale the walls of Hogwarts, dressed as a vampire, before leaping to your death. Then when everyone thinks your going to die, a thestral will swoop up and catch you. Then as you fly away, you can start to laugh evilly."

I sighed. "Even though you've put a lot of thought into this Hols, the idea is that nobody will notice I've disappeared. I don't want to draw attention to myself."

Holly looked deep in thought, before saying "Or…."

"No."

"But…"

"No."

She huffed before lying back on her bed. As supportive as she was, I had started to have nightmares that Holly would influence my future screaming ball of joy to be just as crazy as her, and that she would try to join forces with it to take over the world. Let's face it, something like that is not completely impossible.

"I _am_ trying you know." She said.

"I know. In your own completely batty way."

Feeling that this was a complete waste off time, I told Holly that I was going down to the Common Room. When I got down there, I collapsed into the comfiest looking chair available, and relaxed down ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Hello there stranger."

I jumped a mile. "Will people stop creeping up on me." I mumbled as I turned to see who it was.

"It happens often does it?" Aiden smirked. I smiled, the first genuine one in ages as he sat down next to me. He looked different since I last spoke to him properly, not the 'hey's' we send each others way in the hallway.

"I haven't spoken to you in a while" I commented, "What have you been up to?"

"Not much" He responded "Bit of pranking here and there, amongst other stuff."

I noticed him trying to avoid the question with that last comment. So I just had to ask "What stuff?"

Colour started to creep up his cheeks, "Just stuff."

Aiden and I had a strange relationship. We weren't close like Jack and I, and we accepted that. So when he dodged the question a second time, I didn't pressure him to answer a third time.

He looked grateful for it, before asking, "What about you? You look stressed, what have you been up to?"

I panicked inside, but tried to stay composed and indifferent as I said "Not much. Just chilling amongst other stuff."

He raised his eyebrows, before saying "What stuff?"

Feeling dejavu, I smirked as I replied "Just stuff" before we both laughed.

Sitting in silence I felt comfortable, which I hadn't felt in some time. It confused me, because usually I was more comfortable amongst either my friends, or Jack. But I felt like I had to tip-toe around them at the moment.

"I need a favour."

He looked up in response. "What for?" I hesitated, clearly unable to find a way to tell him before adding, "I can't tell you."

I looked down. It was times like this, I felt bad for how I couldn't act the same around both brothers.

"What do you need me to do?"

My head snapped up. "Even though I can't you why, you'd still do it?"

Aiden leaned forward toward me as he said "I'm your brother. Regardless of why you're doing it, I'll have your back. So consider it done. As long as your not going to kill someone. I don't feel like going to Azkaban for 'accessory to murder'."

I felt a rush of gratitude and brotherly love for Aiden. Remembering to repay the favour in the future, I said "It's nothing like that. I need you to keep people off my tracks tomorrow. I'll be gone for a couple of hours."

He nodded as he said, "I'll tell people you're doing work, because you can't concentrate with everyone around you."

I smiled at him before giving him a hug. "Thanks. I owe you."

"I'll remember that." He laughed as he moved across the room to where his friends all sat.

"Wait." I grabbed onto his arm before he could walk to far away. " If 'stuff' ever turns into something that you want to talk to me about. You know I'll be here to listen right?"

_Your such a hypocrite_ I thought. _It wasn't too long ago that Jack said the same thing to you._

He smirked as he replied "Of course. Right back at you." before leaving.

After feeling the stress caused by panic slowly ebb away, I relaxed back into the chair once more. I wished that I'd been closer to Aiden growing up, that we were close enough to tell each other anything. Because he was clearly holding something back from me, and I was doing the same.

Before long I made my way back up to my dorm with a smile on my face. When I opened up the door, Holly looked up to see if it was me, before saying "I have a new idea. If you dress up like a unicorn….."

"Not happening." I said while I was chuckling. "I've sorted it out now. So no crazy ideas."

"Awww." She moaned. "And I was just about to tell you my plan on how we can transfigure the baby into a cat or something, so you can bring it into the school after it's been born."


	16. My Trip to St Mungo's is Planned

The next morning, I got up early to start my thrilling adventure. _Note sarcasm_. However today, I was lucky enough to get the first bout of morning sickness _whilst_ in the shower. There's no better feeling than having to hurl yourself out of the shower, trying not to trip, just so you get to the toilet on time. My day got off to a great start.

At least Dom and Rose hadn't witnessed any more throwing up, or they wouldn't let it go until they knew what was wrong with me. However with the nerves I tried to sleep through all night, I was up even earlier than Rose. Which is an accomplishment even in itself.

Heading down to breakfast at seven in the morning on a Sunday, I was unaware the corridors of Hogwarts had ever been this quiet before. I had to remind myself that not all the students had nerve-racking Healer Appointments, for unplanned children made from a one night stand.

As I entered the Great Hall, I scanned the room. No Slytherins, one or two Hufflepuffs, and an alarmingly high number of Ravenclaws. _Obviously trying to fit in an extra hour in the library._

There was only one Gryffindor sat at the table. Potter. So instead of sitting as far away from him as I could, like I used to, I walked straight up to him and dropped into the seat next to him. "Hey Potter." He gave me a nod before going back to his breakfast.

"What you doing up this early?" I said. I didn't know if this was a habit of his, not spending much time around him until this year.

"I haven't been sleeping well these last couple of nights." He mumbled, concentrating quite hard on his breakfast.

Oh.

"Sorry." I whispered, as I started to pile up my plate with bacon, eggs, fried toast and all other different foods guaranteed to give you a heart attack. Potter eyed my plate, before sighing.

"Shouldn't you be eating a bit healthier?"

I growled. I _actually_ growled. I didn't want him to start trying to control me, just because I was carrying his child.

"I'm going to eat this, until either it makes me feel sick or my _Healer_ tells me I shouldn't."

He raised his eyebrows as he said "You've seen a Healer?"

I shook my head, not being able to talk with my mouth full. After I'd swallowed I added "Seeing one today. I have my distraction planned."

He paused, looking like he wanted to say something, but hesitating. As I carried on with my breakfast, he eventually asked me a question.

"You want me to come with you?"

The question caught me off guard. I hadn't even thought about it. Should I have asked him if he wanted to come with me? As much as he should be if he was going to be involved, it was something I wanted to do on my own.

"It's alright. Maybe next time. They're not going to do anything interesting in the first appointment, right?"

I couldn't tell whether he looked relieved or disappointed. I shook it off before returning to my breakfast.

"Why do you always call me Potter?"

I snapped my head up. "That's what I've always called you" I said in confusion.

"Don't you think we're a bit past that?" He added, a small smile forming on his face. I chuckled before saying "I'll try not to anymore, _James_".

The hall had started to fill up, but no one remotely paid attention to the fact we were sitting next to each other. Not surprising seeing as most people had seen we were the only two on the Gryffindor table, and probably thought that we hadn't wanted to sit on our own.

I got up to leave however, when I saw Aiden enter with his friends. As I approached him, he saw me coming and turned to his friends to say "Go on, just got to talk to my sister."

He turned back to me and said "When you leaving?"

"Now." I answered, "Thanks again. For not asking questions."

"No problem." He grinned. "Just make sure it doesn't risk your life yeah? Or I'll regret it, and not do it again for you."

_It will risk my life if Jack finds out._

I nodded before walking out and heading to the hump-backed witch. The only reason me and Holly knew about it, was because Jack had let us know, and he only knew because he had Potter as a mate. _James_. It would be weird thinking of him as James rather than Potter.

After checking that no one was around to notice me open the passageway, I slipped through, and headed down the passageway to the Honeydukes cellar.

* * *

><p>After walking through Hogsmeade, going to the Hogshead and convincing Aberforth to let me use his fireplace, I was finally in St Mungo's. Seeing as Holly and I always go to the Hogshead every time there is a Hogmeade weekend, Aberforth had developed a sort of soft spot for us. Which usually meant cheaper drinks, edible food, and in this case use of the fireplace without too many questions.<p>

_"Where you going?"_

_"London."_

_"Alright then."_

So without much hard work, I found myself standing in the entrance room of the wizard hospital. Lining up to queue for directions was a bit more fun than I thought, as I noticed all the accidents that were waiting to be seen. A small girl was floating in the air, bumping her head on the ceiling as her parents held onto a foot each. A middle aged witch had her tongue stuck to her cauldron. As much as I wanted to ask her what happened, I decided not to. It's not like she'd be able to tell me, what with her not being able to move her tongue.

"Excuse me miss, how can I help you?"

I turned to the voice, where a witch in her twenties was waiting to give me directions, with a bored expression on her face.

"Umm, Maternity ward please."

All in one moment, her face came alive. First was shock, followed by disgust. Finally it settled on an expression I could only describe as judgement.

"Sixth floor." She spat. "Next!"

I walked in the direction of the lifts, wondering if that was the reaction all underage mums had and would receive. When I reached the Sixth floor, I stepped out into the foyer. Approaching the reception desk, one of the witches behind it looked up with a kind expression on her face. "How can I help you?"

"I need an appointment for today please."

I didn't want to see the reaction again, so I looked down. However, when I heard her say "Is half an hour ok for you? I need a name.", it didn't seem angry. When I looked back up to her face, all that was there was a sympathetic expression.

"That would be great, thanks. My name's Amy Swann"

"It's with Healer Jones. Is anyone else coming?" she asked kindly, as a quick quotes quill started writing next to her.

"No. It's just me today."

She smiled before adding, "Just take a seat, and we'll call you."

I headed in the direction of the waiting room. As I looked around I saw expectant mums and excited dads. One couple, sat in the corner, seemed the most happy. He was rubbing her stomach as she beamed, the father talking to her bump. Surrounding me were magazines on what to expect, good parenting and all the steps of pregnancy. I realised every one in the waiting room had someone else with them. It made me wish I had asked James to come with me, so I wouldn't be alone.

Without noticing, all the couples had been called in one by one, and new couples had arrived. It wasn't long before the same witch by the desk walked in my direction, and said "Amy Swann, we're ready for you."

**A/N: Cookies to all those who have reviewed so far, they keep me going.**


	17. My Healer Knows What He's Talking About

I walked into the examination room, where there was a middle-aged wizard wearing a white coat. He didn't look up as he said "Take a seat.", so I silently waited for him to address me again while I jumped up onto the table. Finally after a couple of minutes of silence, he smiled up from writing on something.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Healer Jones. So, Amy, how can I help you?"

I swallowed nervously before describing what had happened so far. "I've taken a pregnancy test and it came out positive."

He thought about what I had just told him before adding "One of the Potion ones from an apothecary?"

"Yeah." I said. "And a muggle one. I wanted to be sure."

"Okay then." he added. "What we're going to do is run one of our own tests. It's quicker and a lot more reliable than one of the shop-bought ones." He walked out of the room, before returning with a glass of something brown coloured. I visibly winced.

After noticing my reaction he chuckled. "Don't worry" he said "It tastes better than it looks." He handed me the glass, which I took hesitantly. Taking a cautionary sip, I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be flavoured like Honeyduke's best chocolate. It wasn't exactly what I had been expecting, seeing as I had tasted some of the drinks in the hospital café. Having only been here once before, when Jack broke his arm falling from a tree when he was ten, I did not have the best experience of them. Some of them made me ill, which is ironic, seeing as this is meant to be a _healing_ place.

When I had downed the potion, I asked "What exactly is this for?"

The healer politely explained that the potion enabled a certain spell to work. If after he'd cast the spell at my stomach and it turned blue, I would not be pregnant. If it turned pink, I was screwed. Well, he didn't exactly say _screwed_, it was more like 'with child'. Which at my age, pretty much means the same thing.

For Example.

In a regular dictionary, screwed means _'beset with unfortunate circumstances that seem difficult or impossible to overcome'._

In a teenage dictionary however?

Screwed means _'knocked up. Or something close to that nature. Sucks to be you.'_

I lied back on the table and lifted my top away from my stomach. Healer Jones pointed his wand at my stomach and said "Gravidus".

Without any wait, a pink mist came out of his wand, showing I was pregnant, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"You are definitely pregnant, Amy. Now I just have to ask a few questions. When was the first day of your last period?"

"August nineteenth." I mumbled. It seemed so long ago. I couldn't believe how I hadn't noticed me missing some.

"And do you have an idea of when the baby was conceived?"

The party. "September second." I replied, as he wrote down all answers I was giving him.

"Okay, so it looks like you're around 7 weeks. I don't see any reason for an early scan. You're healthy, you haven't had any previous miscarriages, so I'd like you to go to the desk to be booked in for a twelve week ultrasound. We can date your pregnancy more accurately, and even get a look at your baby."

"Okay." I nodded, not sure whether I was excited to see the baby, or just anxious to get out of the hospital.

"Also, Marie, on the desk will give you all the pre-natal vitamins you'll need." He stopped for a moment, before continuing "I have to ask, is someone going to be there to support you through this?"

"Yeah." At least I think he was. "Thank you Healer Jones."

"No problem. Are there any questions you have?"

I smirked. "Actually there is one. Can I eat an unhealthy breakfast?"

* * *

><p>Walking out into reception once more, I was slightly saddened. Not by the results but by the healer telling me I should be eating a well balanced diet, and that I should cut down on bad foods. James would be rubbing it my face the first chance he gets.<p>

Walking up to the desk a second time, I noticed that 'Marie' was the witch who has spoken to me when I first walked onto the floor, and had treated me nicely. She smiled as she noticed me waiting.

"You here to book your next appointment?"

I smiled as I said "Yeah I am. Something about a twelve week ultrasound."

"That's right." She was searching through a book with 'appointments' on it. "Is there a particular day you'd like it on?"

"It'd be great if it was a weekend." It's hard enough sneaking out without anyone noticing on the weekend. If I started skipping schooldays, the teacher's would find out faster than you could say 'I'm not pregnant, just big boned.'

She looked at me again in understanding. "How about Saturday thirteenth of November?"

"That's perfect, thank you."

She grinned before saying "Let me just go grab your vitamins. Won't be too long."

I waited for her to come back, constantly wondering why she was being so nice to me. I expected a lot more reactions like the one from the she-devil on the ground floor dealing with inquiries.

"Alright" she grabbed my attention as she held up a bag. "In here are all the pre-natal vitamins you'll need. B vitamin folic acid and vitamin D. They're the main ones. The rest you can get from a well balanced diet."

"Why are you being so nice to me? Not that I'm complaining." I added quickly "But I thought that everyone would be judging me."

The look of understanding returned to her face once more. "We get a number of mums to be here who are underage. It's hard enough on them as it is, without the looks and gossip they have to put up with as well. Besides, it wasn't long ago I was in your position."

"You were?" My face lit up, I didn't know of anyone who had had a baby before graduating.

"I was." She smiled. "Beauxbatons, fifth year. I was fifteen when I got pregnant. The father didn't want anything to do with her, so I did it all on my own. Nobody should have to do that. I was sixteen when I gave birth to her. Best thing that ever happened to me."

"Wasn't it hard?"

She looked deep in thought, before saying "Yes. I'm not going to lie. It was a struggle to complete my education. My parents were busy working, and although they were supportive they couldn't look after her while I was at school. So after she was born, I dropped out. Then got a job here as a receptionist."

I noticed that Marie kept saying 'her'. "You had a daughter?" I smiled.

Her smile brightened as she thought about her daughter. "Yes, my Amelie. She's six and a half, and already showing signs of magic."

I thought about the baby that was inside me. Would I feel this way about him or her when they were born? Would it start earlier than that? She must have noticed me in my own world, thinking about something. She said "If you ever have questions, you can ask me. I know what you're going through."

I nodded and thanked her, before turning and walking into the lift to go back to the ground floor. _Would I have to drop out of Hogwarts at the end of my sixth year? Only a year before I graduate?_

When the lift doors opened, I walked in the direction of the fireplaces to floo back to Hogsmeade. When the witch giving people directions saw me coming, she glared at me.

So do you know what I did?

I gave her the finger, before flooing out of St Mungo's.


	18. My Dreams Aren't Likely to Come True

In the evening, the majority of Gryffindor were chilling in the Common Room. I had managed to sneak back into Hogwarts unnoticed, and so far no-one had questioned where I had been. Life was good. Though to be fair, I'd only really bumped into Holly in the halls, and she already knew where I had been.

Currently sat in a quiet corner of the Common Room, Holly was stroking Speedy. Who did not look comfortable in his latest costume.

"Seriously, Holly?" I moaned. "Most people here at Hogwarts won't even know who he's meant to be."

"It's original. The muggleborns definitely will."

Making a note to never question what Speedy wears again to her face, I gave Holly up as a lost cause. There was no saving that girl. I dreaded the day she was ready to breed.

Rose climbed through the portrait hole, followed through by both Dom and Al. After meeting my eyes, they all walked in our direction. Rose sat down in between me and Holly, while Al and Dom just leaned against the wall.

"So where is this secret revising area you go to?" Rose asked.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret would it?" I smirked. "I don't exactly get a lot of work done when I go to the library with you." _Thank you, Aiden_.

Rose looked affronted as she replied "What do you mean?" Dom, Al and Holly all sniggered as I said "Well between you complaining that not many good looking guys go in the library, and whacking me across the back of my head until I agree to test you, I can't find time to do my _own_ revision."

She looked ready to argue against my point, until she shrugged and had a sheepish grin on her face. "Sorry."

"Forget it." I laughed. "It's going to happen anyway."

After laughing about Rose's studious ways as a group, I realised someone was calling my name.

"Amy! Hey Ames!"

Turning around to search for the person who was calling me, I saw Jack waving me over. I got up and made my way over to my brother and his friends.

"What's up bro?"

"Bro?" He looked amused. "Getting down with the cool kids eh?" I gave him a friendly punch to the arm as he tried to dodge away. I smiled at our childish ways before asking "So what did you want?"

"Just wanted to know if you wanted to chill over here. I haven't seen much of you since the start of term."

"Sure." I said, waving my friends over. "Move up then." He scooted up the sofa, just in time to avoid me collapsing on top of him.

"So what you talking about?" I asked, as Dom took a seat next to James, Al sat next to Weasley, while Holly dropped down next to Wood, who was eyeing Speedy with caution.

"Just future careers. You wanted to be an Unspeakable, right?" Everyone in the group was now focused on me.

"Well, things might change. It was never a dream, just something that interested me." _Seeing as I won't be the most employable person in the world after this year._

"What about everyone else?" I looked around for a response. Holly answered straight away.

"I'm going to design clothing for pets."

Wood spoke up at this point. "Is that what's on your cat? Your first design?"

"No." She huffed. "It's a costume." Wood looked like he couldn't believe he had to ask his next question. "What _exactly_ is he meant to be wearing black leather and a cape?"

And then, stating clearly as if it was a perfectly reasonable answer, she said "Batman."

Wood started to splutter with disbelief. "Who the hell is Batman! And Speedy is neither bat nor man!"

Al leant forward at this point. He whispered "It's not worth arguing with her. Just ignore it.", before saying in a much louder voice, "Who else knows what they're going to do?" You have to give it to Al. He's good at filling uncomfortable silences.

Weasley, who was sat next to James, grinned before slapping him on the back. "Me, James, Sean and Jack are off to Quidditch trials at the end of this year." All the boys hooted and yelled in happiness in response. All except James, who gave a small smile and nod to Weasley's statement. I decide to question him on that at a later date, when the other's weren't around.

The rain was starting to hit the windows of the tower by the time we all went our separate ways. Jack decided he was still hungry, even after eating dinner, and went down to the kitchens. I decided to go for a walk through the halls before I had to be back before curfew.

I chose to sit in the Charms classroom. I needed to think over a lot of things, and it seemed like a peaceful place to do just that.

I placed a hand on my stomach. There was no bump, I didn't think I 'glowed'. But I felt _different._ I couldn't pinpoint why though.

The door of the classroom opened. I looked up, and saw James standing in the doorway. "How'd you know I was here?"

He only said two words. "Marauder's Map."

"What?"

He sighed as he sat down opposite me. "It's a map my grandad designed with his friends. It shows secret passageways, and where every person at Hogwarts is, at any given time."

"Awesome." I decided that now was a good time to ask about his reaction earlier. He was staring out into space.

"Why didn't you cheer with the other boys when they mentioned Quidditch trials?"

He ran his fingers through his hair, before mumbling "It's not like I can go. I have to get a proper job. There's no definite pay for professional Quidditch players, unless they get onto at least the reserve team."

Guilt washed over me, as I heard the slight contempt in his voice. Seeing as all I had been doing was apologising around him since he found out, I decide on that once more. "I'm really…"

But he cut me off. "This has been my dream." He said. "Ever since I first flew on a broomstick, and I don't know what I'm doing. It won't want me for a father."

And there we were. Addressing the great big pink elephant in the room. How James felt about the pregnancy. He hadn't been that open about it before.

"You'll be great. I know you….."

But this time it wasn't him talking that cut me off. It was the look on his face. He had an expression that I couldn't work out.

It was silent for a while, until finally, James spoke.

"I know I said I'd be there. But i'm really sorry, I can't do this."

**A/N: Did anyone expect this? The magic of a cliffhanger.**

**Mwahahaha.**

**Try not to hate me for too long.**


	19. My Emotions are Reflected in the Storm

I froze where I was standing. I just imagined he said that. I'd just realised 6 hours ago that maybe I did need him, and I couldn't do this on my own. There's no way that fate is that much of a bitch.

But the look of complete despair on his face, told me all I needed to know. It had happened. He stared at me for a few seconds more before turning and walking out the classroom door. But I couldn't breathe. As I stood there, having a panic attack, I listed the people who knew about the pregnancy. Two people. Holly and James. And one of them just left me. I was so screwed.

_It's not like he had to stay_, my subconscious told me._ You're the one with the problem._

And that thought gave me the push I needed to finally move. I ran from the classroom, sprinting down the halls and knocking over a group of first years, who all glared at me. By the time I reached the Common room I was out of breath.

"Devil's Snare" I all but screamed at the Fat Lady.

"There's no need to shout dear, I can hear you perfectly well if you talk normally" She said coldly, swinging open for me to clamber through.

I looked around the Common room. I couldn't see him anywhere. I swore internally, but saw Lily by the window, sat with a group of fourth years. Luckily, Aidan wasn't with them, so I rushed over to their table.

"Lily, have you seen your brother" I whispered, knowing it wasn't usual for me to be looking for him.

"I think Albus said he was gunna be in the library" she said looking confused. "He said you were going to meet him there."

"Not Albus. James." I murmured softly, not wanting the other people on the table to hear.

She looked at me warily. I was known for hanging around with Albus, so she knew something was going on.

"He said he was going to the quidditch pitch. He looked troubled." She said quietly. "Do you know..."

But I'd already sprinted across the room, heading for the portrait. I had to talk to him. I ran through the corridors again, this time heading towards the quidditch pitch. I ran out of the castle into the rain. It was pouring down, but I couldn't go back in. Not until I'd spoken with him, I thought.

I stopped half way there. What if he told me I'd ruined his life? And didn't want anything to do with me? I don't know if I could handle that, especially with all these extra hormones flying around. I was confused, I didn't know what to do, hell I didn't even realise I was pregnant until just over a week ago. _What did I expect to happen?_ Life would go on as normal for 9 months and then, Hey! Look! A baby just came out of me!

I don't know how to do this. I can barely put on my clothes the right way. I needed help. I needed _him_. So I carried on, knowing no matter the outcome, I needed to at least try.

As I got closer to the pitch, I could see a solitary figure, standing in the middle. I knew it was him so I hurried down before he could leave. But he didn't move. He didn't even acknowledge I was there. He was soaked to the skin, but he just stood there. Like there was no storm. No problems. No stress.

"James..."I said cautiously. James turned around. He looked broken.

"I'm not ready for this." He muttered. "I can't do it."

" I know." I simply put. "And I know I didn't want to force you to do something you didn't want. That you could decide if you wanted to be there for the baby. But I need you." The tears rolling down my face were indistinguishable from the rain, but I couldn't stop them.

"I'M JUST A KID MYSELF!" He yelled, I felt myself back off, going on the defensive. "JACK'S GUNNA KILL ME. MY PARENTS WILL BE ANGRY. I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!"

That statement made the courage inside me emerge. "AND YOU THINK I DID! I CAN BARELY LOOK AFTER MYSELF, LET ALONE A BABY" I screamed back at him. The storm seemed to be reflecting our emotions, as we could hardly hear each other over the thunder and rain.

The anger in his eyes disappeared, and was replaced with the same broken look he had when he first turned around. The rain carried on falling as we were silent. I was sure I was just as soaked as he was by now.

"I can't do this alone" I sobbed. "My family can scarcely live off the money my mum makes as it is. I can't tell them. Any of them. Mum will break down. Jack will get angry. Aidan will say it's only my fault. I haven't got anyone to help me." He continued to look at me, but this time, there was a strange look in his eyes.

"You're probably better off without me." He mumbled. "I don't know if I'd be a good dad."

In five steps, I'd walked in front of him and placed my hands on either side of his face. "Listen to me, James Potter. You'd make an amazing father. Any kid would be lucky to have you." I said honestly. He gazed into my eyes; his brown orbs seemed to look into my very soul. The rain continued to fall down our faces, as our bodies were as close to each other as they could be without touching. Nothing moved around us. The only sound was the rain hitting the ground. We continued to stare at each other, a knot formed in my stomach at the intensity of his gaze.

And then in one motion, James leaned down and placed his lips against mine.

Although we'd kissed before on _the night_, it wasn't like this. Then, it was fast, hot, passionate and fiery. This kiss was soft, gentle but made me weak at the knees at how he was bringing down his walls around himself, letting me in. He moved his lips against mine, and I responded by reaching up and putting my arms round his neck. _This. Was. Bliss._

The desperation in the kiss was obvious. Like we both needed someone to support us, and how now that we'd found them, we wouldn't let them go.

He pulled away, resting his forehead against mine, both of us gasping for breath.

"Let's go back in before you or the baby get hypothermia" He smiled. I nodded my head, agreeing as he took my hand and started pulling me in the direction of the castle . And as we made our way back inside, I couldn't help but notice how it was the first time he hadn't called the baby 'it'.


	20. My Plans Have Run Amok

I woke up next morning, and for the first time, there wasn't a lingering sense of dread in the air. I didn't feel nauseous. I didn't feel on my own. I actually felt like maybe, just maybe, I could do this.

iWith James./i

I could remember the kiss. A smile formed on my face as I thought about how gentle he'd been, how close we'd been to each other.

What did it mean? Call me old fashioned, but I was under the impression that I should be getting excited about kissing someone before not after I slept with them. But I was. Butterflies were forming in my stomach just thinking about him, and my heart pumped wildly thinking about the way he held me as we kissed.

Oh great.

I fancied James Potter.

I fancied the father of my child.

I fancied the father of my child from a one night stand.

I fancied the father of my child from a one night stand, who just happened to be my brother's best friend.

Things just got complicated.

iWell/i, more complicated than they were say a couple of hours ago. iOh, who cares./i My subconscious yelled at me. iYou snogged James Potter./i The girly girl inside of me giggled annoyingly.

* * *

><p>Walking down the stairs into the common room, I was convinced my life was going well. That was before my stomach dropped at something I could see.<p>

_Veronica_. Veronica Hastings was sat very close to James on one of the sofas and was trying, not very subtly, to move onto his lap. The three other boys were trying very hard not to burst out in laughter, settling for just hidden sniggers instead.

"It's your lucky day, Jamsie." She breathed, trying to appear sexy. "I'm going to let you take me to Hogmeade next Saturday."

Oh yeah. Hogmeade weekend. Next Saturday. Big Yippee.

You're probably wondering why I'm not ecstatic about going to Hogmeade. It's good for shopping. It's good for dates. It's good for butterbeer. But with me in my condition, dating is not a likely occurrence. Who would willingly take a pregnant sixteen year old out on a date. A lunatic perhaps.

And I would_ like_ to go shopping. But I always end up going down to Hogmeade with Holly. Who always drags me into a bread shop. A bread shop I tell you. All they sell is loaves of bread. Not even Rolls. And when I calmly ask what she wants to do with bread, She turns to me, tells me not to interrupt her thinking, and then carries on walking round.

Two hours later, she asks me why we're in a bread shop and walks out.

So the only good thing is butterbeer at the Hog's Head. Which I'm not even sure I can drink, because it has a slight alcohol content.

Back to the present, I was still staring at the rather forward display that Veronica was putting on for James.

"Umm…" James looked very uncomfortable. It gave my hopes a small lift. "I'm already going with someone."

And down they go again.

He was moving along the sofa now, as far away from her as he could get. The look of horror on Veronica's face made me wish I had a camera. _Someone didn't expect to be turned down._

I smirked as I walked out, and down to the hall for breakfast before lessons. After dropping down next to Holly, I made to reach for the bacon.

Then I remembered. Healer Jones told me to eat healthily. I growled and frowned as I changed direction and picked up the porridge.

CLANK.

I looked up and eyed my friends across the table. Rose, Dom and Albus were all frozen in various positions. Rose was staring at my arm that was picking up the box. Dom had frozen comically with her fork halfway to her mouth, food falling off. Al had actually dropped his spoon, which made the clanging sound. I was about to turn and laugh off their faces with Holly, when I found that she was having trouble forming sentences.

"But….I…you….what?"

My frown returned as I asked "What's wrong?"

It seemed Rose, being the most together out of them all replied "Why are you eating _that_?"

I looked at them all in turn, before saying "Am I not allowed to?"

Dom spoke up this time. "You always called it rabbit food."

I cocked an eyebrow. "I did?"

"Yep." This time they all answered in union. I thought about it for a second, before shrugging my shoulders. "Time's change." I said, spooning some porridge into my mouth. I almost spat it back out. It. Was. Foul. But I swallowed it down, because everyone was still looking at me, and Healer said I couldn't have my beloved English Breakfast too much any more.

_The things I do for you, baby._

What surprised me, was that even half an hour later sat in Potions, I didn't want to throw it up. Not because the porridge was disgusting or because of morning sickness, I still felt fine. Holly nudged me.

"What?" I whispered. Professor Grayson was no where near as strict as his predecessor Severus Snape, but he still did not like people talking in class when they were meant to be concentrating on brewing their potions.

"Oh relax! He's on the other side of the room looking at Aberton's Potion, The fact that it's neon yellow and hissing means that Grayson's going to be there the majority of the lesson."

I calmed down slightly. "What do you want?"

"Not here." She looked around, and looked in both the direction of Al, Rose, Dom and Walter Stevens who was Dom's partner, and then Veronica and Nicole in the row in front.

Holly picked up the jar of mealworms and the porcupine quills and place them both in her bag without drawing attention to herself. She then turned to me.

"We need mealworms and quills for the next step. Let's get them from the supply cupboard." She then hopped off her stool, and skipped in the direction of the cupboard.

I shook my head at her antics, but got up nonetheless and followed her. As soon as we both were in there, she locked the door, pointed her wand at it and said _'Muffliato'_.

"What was that?" I said in awe, having never heard the spell before.

"Stop's eavesdroppers." She replied. "Al taught it to me."

"Well…." I prompted her.

"Next Saturday when we go to Hogmeade…" She couldn't finish her sentence because I drowned her out with a loud groan. "Stop moaning. I was thinking we could go into some Shops and get you some Maternity clothes."

"Are you calling me fat?" I went on the defensive. What would I need the clothes for? I didn't think it was noticeable yet, but maybe I was seeing different things to other people.

"No!" She answered quickly. "But it helps to be prepared right? There is a really cute Pregnancy store on the edge of Hogmeade called 'Mums and Tums'."

I gave her an apologetic grin, before asking "Won't people notice if I'm walking into pregnancy stores?"

"Didn't you hear me? It's on the edge of Hogsmeade. The part students don't go in."

_It couldn't hurt I guess_. I nodded my agreement, causing Holly to squeal and throw her arms around me.

"Just promise me we won't go in that bread shop."

She laughed before grabbing a handful of porcupine quills and unlocking the door. I picked up a new jar of mealworms and we left the cupboard to go back into the classroom.

* * *

><p>Sat up in the Astronomy Tower was a calming place. It was why I went there after my freak-out, when I thought I might have been pregnant. You might run into someone from time to time there, but the majority of the time, it was empty.<p>

"Hey."

Now was obviously not one of those times. I recognised the voice.

"Used that map of yours again?" He grinned as he sat down next to me. "Of course." He smirked.

"Isn't that stalking?" I joked. James laughed, before adding "It's not like I'm hiding in bushes."

His laugh made my heart beat faster again. _Pull your act together, Moron_. Great my own head is against me.

"I shouldn't have kissed you again. I seem to be making a habit of taking advantage."

I tried to smile, but it hurt worse than I thought it would. I knew it. He regretted it.

His face dropped as he realised I thought he meant something else. "Not that I didn't want to." He rambled, "It's just I did kind of spring it on you."

The tears that had been beginning to form, started to subside. I was about to cry? Really?

I put it down to hormones, an excuse I was ready to use at any given point to work in my favour or get my way. It was only fair.

"I saw you and Veronica this morning."

His face grimaced as he groaned. "You saw that? She won't leave me alone. I had to tell her I was going with someone else, just so she would back off."

"So you're not going with anyone?"

He ran his hands through his hair, a motion I had associated with him being nervous. "I was hoping there would be. I was wondering whether….you… would like to ….maybe we could….."

I had to laugh at his flustered expression. "James, are you trying to ask me out on a date?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah." His hand started fiddling with his hair once more "I am."

"Won't Jack kind of notice if we walk through Hogmeade together?"

"I was thinking that we could go to this place called Joe's. It's on the edge of Hogsmeade. The part….."

"That students don't go in." I finished for him. He nodded, waiting anxiously for my reply.

"I'd love to." I had thought about maybe stringing it out a bit longer, but the smile that spread across his face made me glad I had answered quickly.

"Great."

"Awesome."

_And back to one word answers._

* * *

><p>Walking into the Common Room, I was in high spirits, trying to think of a way to tell Holly I couldn't go shopping because I had a <em>date<em>. Maybe I could do both. Date, then Shopping. Maybe I could throw in a bottle of butterbeer too, if I was lucky.

I didn't notice Jack come up to me, until he was tapping me on the shoulder saying "What you doing?"

I spun around. "Nothing."

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Who you going to Hogsmeade with?"

I answered this a lot quicker. "No-one."

"You are." He responded. "You're going to Hogmeade with me and Aiden. Family time."

I groaned internally. "Really?" I tried to sound happy about it. I thought about how I could get out of it. I could tell him I was going out on a date, but not who with. _Not gunna happen_. He'd pester me until I said some random guy's name, and then he'd go beat them up. I was going to the Hog's Head with Holly? He'd just join me. I was studying? I was _studying._

"I'd love to but….." But he was already walking away, saying over his shoulder, "Can't wait."

As he walked out of eyesight, I hit my own forehead. Just great. Now what do I do?

"You alright?" Albus was giving me a strange look, because I had just hit myself in the head. Probably worrying if I'd gone mental. Mind you, I was worrying if I'd gone mental.

"Fine." I mumbled. Dom walked up to me as well, Rose was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Rose?" I asked. Dom had a look that said _Are you serious?_

"Need you ask?" In the library." She shuddered. "Which is why we are staging an intervention. You with us?"

Finally. Something to take my mind off my Hogsmeade problems. "Of course I am. What are we doing?"

"Rose will only try to stay in the library next Saturday, so we're gunna drag her down to Hogmeade, go to all the good shops like Honeydukes and Zonko's, we'll see the shrieking shack and then go for lunch in the Three Broomsticks."

You have got to be joking.

"I can't I'm busy…"

"Yeah. Busy with us trying to get Rose a life. Part one, get her out the library. It's going to be epic." She then pranced off with the eyes of the majority of the boys on her. _Stupid Veela Genes_.

I just stood there, mouth wide open. Al gave me a sympathetic look before saying "She's dragging me too. At least we can be miserable together." He then followed in the direction Dom left in.

Four different plans. One Hogmeade trip. I was so screwed.

**A/N: Longest chapter to date. *Woop*. I had trouble trying to stop wrting just so I could put a new chapter up.  
><strong>

**What do you think will happen no this exciting Hogmeade day? :P As you know, Amy's life is far from normal.**


	21. My Cravings Have Kicked in

So do I go shopping with Holly or go on a date with James? Do I spend quality family time with my brothers or help Rose to spend time doing something other than Study and watch Quidditch? Decisions decisions.

This was my one opportunity to go to Hogsmeade with Holly and get to go shopping. Granted it was for maternity clothes, but anything was better than that bread shop. And I _really_ want to go on the date with James. The next Hogsmeade trip was in December. That's two months away. He may not want to ask me again if I say no now.

But I haven't spent any time with my family since summer. I've been feeling guilty about it for a while now, and add in the secrets, I haven't been a very good sister. There's no way Dom will do her plan for Rose, without making sure we're all dragged along behind her.

So like I said, I was screwed.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight, you need to be in four places at once."<p>

"Got it in one."

I needed help. Serious help. And not just because I'd gotten myself into an impossible situation. I'd actually decided to ask _Holly_ for advice.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well…I guess you don't have to go shopping with me."

"NO!" I yelled. The majority of the students in the hall, walking past us on the way to lessons, turned to look our way. Ducking my head and blushing like mad, I lowered my voice as I said "That's my problem. I want to do all four things, but I just can't."

"How about a time turner?"

I sighed. "With my bad luck lately, I'd walk into myself, destroy all time and space, which would be the end of the world as we know it."

Holly nodded, not at my crazy overreaction, but in understanding. "You're right. I quite like being alive right now. How about I make copies of you?" She took out her wand and pointed it at me.

"NO!" This was the second time everyone turned to look at us because of me shouting out. Or maybe this time it was because I did some sort of weird spasm before hitting her wand out of her hand.

"No offence Holly, but I wouldn't trust you performing any spell on me unless I was on my deathbed, and that would be because I was already dying anyway so…."

She huffed. "No need to get so violent about it." She bent to pick up her wand and we both walked into the Transfiguration classroom.

* * *

><p>After Transfiguration, it was lunch. Which was exactly what I needed after the lesson I had.<p>

We were meant to be transfiguring bubbles into quaffles. Which was meant to be a fun lesson. Blow the bubble and then transfigure it quickly before it popped. Which was going well until Veronica bloody Hastings shouted quite loudly at the front of the class about how she was going to casually bump into 'Jamsie Potter' outside a broom closet.

And that was the point my newly transfigured quaffle blew up into hundreds of pieces.

In my defence, high levels of hormones and a small amount of jealousy is not a good mix. I'm just glad I managed to refrain myself from setting her hair on fire.

"Are you alright, Ames?" Albus was looking at me strangely. "You're good at transfiguration, you never get it wrong. What happened?"

At Al's question, both Dom and Rose tried to subtly lean in to hear my answer. Which meant I had to think of another believable lie to make them think I was telling the truth. And they're all waiting.

Holly was sitting next to me in class. So surely she'd back me up on anything I say, seeing as she probably heard Veronica's very public declaration.

"Ummm…."Good start. "Holly told me she fancied my brother."

All three looked shocked, but not as shocked as Holly. She actually bashed her knee on the table. But luckily they were looking at me, rather than her.

"Yeah, she told me she liked him, and it surprised me, so I blew up my quaffle. Isn't that right Holly?"

"I did?"

Thank you Holly.

All three then looked at her, just as she realised I was covering up the real reason. So comically her face lit up in recognition, and she said "Oh yeah, I did. He's so hot, and butch, and tall, and brown haired and…."

"Enough Holly."

And I thought I was bad at lying.

Rose frowned in confusion. "Umm don't you like Lorcan?"

Holly started to look uncomfortable. _Note to self, don't use Holly to cover anything this important again._

"Well, yeah I like him more than Ames' brother. He'd just a crush."

This time it was Dom's turn to question. "Which brother?"

"Jack. Aiden's younger than me." Holly scrunched up her nose.

"Let's eat shall we?" _Well done you. Conversation avoided_.

As I reached forward, I saw a strange jar in the corner of my eye. Pointing at it, I asked "What is that?"

Rose followed my hand, and once she saw what I was pointing at, laughed. "You've never had peanut butter before?"

"Obviously not, idiot."

This just made Rose laugh more, and Dom, Al and Holly joined in this time. "It's a muggle kind if spread." Rose explained.

I picked it up, and examined the jar. "If it's muggle, what's it doing here?"

"We like it. Like you and your coffee. We asked the elves to make sure there was some on our table at all meals."

The mention of my beloved coffee put a downer on my mood. Since finding out I was pregnant, it meant I had to give it up for a substitute. _Decaf._ I shuddered. It tasted like shit compared to the original. I may as well have just given it up altogether. But people had already noticed I was eating more healthily, they'd ask questions if I stopped drinking black goo. So Decaf was what I HAD to drink.

Opening up the jar, I reached a spoon in and scooped up a bit. I looked at the others to make sure I was doing it right, they all seemed to be smiling at me.

"Now I put it on food or…."

"It depends. Hugo just likes to eat it off the spoon."

I hesitated, before lifting the spoon up and putting it in my mouth. I froze.

_This was heaven._

"Oh my god."

Holly smirked. "Good isn't it?"

She then preceded to try and grab the jar to get some of her own. _Big mistake_.

She ended up on the floor, after I pushed her off her chair of course.

"No no." I smiled as I clung onto the jar of yummy goodness. "This jar is all mine now."

"We're gunna have to ask the elves to put another jar on the table from now on." Al whispered to Dom.

"Okay, someone help me up." Holly voice came from under the table. Rose then moved to pull her back into her seat. I, however, was more interested in what else I could put _my_ peanut butter on. I looked towards the steak. Picking up a slice, I smothered it in peanut butter, before taking a bite.

"For the love of God, you did not just do that."

I looked up into four disgusted faces, Holly having joined us at the table again. I looked up and down the table to see if they were the only ones. Not many people were paying attention, but my brother, James, and their mates had noticed Dom's statement.

"That's just disgusting, Amy" Jack laughed as he carried on eating.

"What's wrong, they taste amazing together!" I was confused.

Al raised his eyebrows. "They do?" He moved closer and cut himself a bit of my peanut butter covered steak. I actually had to hold myself back from punching him.

He placed it in his mouth and started chewing. It didn't last long, before he had spat it back out again. "That is foul. You're crazy."

"Well don't eat it then." I said going on the defensive.

Everyone turned back to their meals, everyone except James and Holly. James gave me a knowing look before turning back to his mates. Holly leaned in and whispered in my ear. "So cravings are kicking in, huh."

* * *

><p>Holly and I decided to walk round the lake after classes had ended for the day. After all, we still had a problem to solve.<p>

"I really don't know what to do. Holly tell me what to do."

"I have an idea."

I groaned. "Never mind, I've decided I'll figure this out on my own. I don't need crazy answers right now."

"For all you know, it might have been a good one."

I looked towards her. She seemed calm, she didn't look dreamy. Maybe I should give her the benefit of the doubt. "Alright, what's you're idea?"

"Well, we're allowed to go to Hogsmeade at nine in the morning and be back by five right?"

"Yeah."

Holly smiled as she said "So…that's eight hours. Spend the first two hours with your brothers. Then at eleven, meet Dom and those in the Three Broomsticks. Go to the places they want to go, then leave at one to meet Potter. Finally at three, you can meet me because both your date and the shop I want to go to are on the edge of Hogsmeade."

I looked as Holly in astonishment. "Holly, you actually might be a genius. It might just work, but do you think I can do it without messing it up?"

She just shrugged her shoulders. "It's either that or cancel on people."

"I guess I have a plan then."_ But would I screw it up?_

"I guess you do."


	22. My Secret is at Risk

Getting dressed for Hogmeade was definitely one of the hardest tasks in life. Why?

I had to pick the perfect outfit.

The outfit that said 'I'm hanging out with family'. Casual, comfortable, not trying too hard. Something that wouldn't make my brothers think I was spending the day somewhere special.

The outfit that said 'Rose, you need to get out more often'. Stylish, something I could perhaps convince Rose to wear someday, when she gets a life.

The outfit that said 'You're glad you asked me out right?'. Something that would make James' eyes pop, maybe even make him drool a bit.

And finally, the outfit that said 'Just a casual day shopping'. Something I won't be uncomfortable in. I can relax after the stressful day I've had.

So, as you see, not the easiest outfit to pick.

* * *

><p>"How about this one?"<p>

Rose was, _huge gasp_, in the library. And had been since six in the morning. That girl seriously has issues, being in the library at six on a Hogsmeade weekend. Dom was eating breakfast, obviously hoping to get into Hogsmeade early.

So here we were. Holly and I were standing in the middle of the dorm, looking through every single article of clothing we own.

"Don't you think Jack would wonder why I was wearing a ball gown to Hogsmeade?"

Holly chucked it in the reject pile. "All you had to do was say no."

I picked up a pair of jeans. " Should I wear these and a dressy top?"

Holly took one look at them, pointed her wand and set them on fire. I'd never let go of something as quick as I did then.

"Holly…..WHAT THE FUCK?"

She just shrugged. "You're not wearing them. Besides, they were ugly anyway."

"You can't _burn_ my clothes just because you don't like them!"

"Says you." She smirked evilly. "What do you think happened to that grey t shirt you use to sleep in that was covered in holes?"

"I liked that t shirt, it was comfy."

"It offended my eyes, so it had to go." She then carried on looking through our trunks. I sighed, "Just promise me you won't burn any more."

Holly looked thoughtful for a second. "I promise not to burn clothes without letting you know first."

"Good enough." I let it go. There was no winning with her. Take Speedy as example.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. The dress. The dress I would wear. I picked it up, and turned to Holly.

"What do you think?"

She looked up from the pile of 'maybes' she had formed with two items in her hands. "That's it." She jumped up excitedly, and threw the clothes she was holding over her shoulder. "It's perfect."

I held it up to look at it closer. It was dark blue, but had a floral design. Sleeveless, but thick shoulder straps, it had a sort of floaty quality to it. Wearing it with white strappy sandals would create the perfect casual/dressy look, if that even made any sense.

"I'm gunna go get ready then."

"Remember." Holly had now started to look for something for herself. "I expect you outside 'Mums and Tums' at exactly three on the dot." She turned and winked at me before going into the bathroom.

Maybe I should bring up the topic of some sort of therapy for her while we shop.

* * *

><p>At exactly nine, I was dragging both brothers down to Hogsmeade. I had grabbed Aiden's right hand, Jack's left, and proceeded to speed walk down to the town.<p>

"What's the rush?" Jack was smiling, as Aiden looked helplessly at passers by.

"I just want to start family time. Is that so bad? Bring on quality sibling bonding I say."

If anything, Aiden just looked even more scared. "Ummm Ames, are you high?"

Jack snorted, "Just because she wants to spend time with us, doesn't make her high."

"It does when she's acting weird."

I had blanked the rest of the conversation, deciding to speed up my walking into a jog. We headed into the Hogshead.

"Are you sure you want to go here?" Jack looked slightly out of place. "We could always go the the Three Broomsticks."

"I'm sure." This came out at a slightly higher pitch than I intended. There was a reason I didn't take them to the Three Broomsticks. The reason being that I said I'd meet Dom and the others there at eleven, and hadn't told either that I was meeting both groups today.

"Okay then." Aiden seemed to have relaxed since I let go of his arm, "What's everyone having?"

"Pumpkin Juice please."

Aiden raised his eyebrows. "Sure you don't want something else like butterbeer?"

Having not asked the Healer whether butterbeer was ok, and not having looked it up either, I had decided to wait until I was sure before ordering a butterbeer. Although not enough to get drunk, (I think that someone would probably throw up before actually managing to get drunk off butterbeer), it did manage to affect House elves. So I didn't know if it would affect the baby.

"No, I'm good."

Aiden told Aberforth my order, who also raised his eyebrows, before asking Jack what he wanted. We then all sat down at a spare table.

"So, what's new with you two?" Jack had decided to snoop in our lives.

Both Aiden and I answered with a quick "Nothing", before smirking at each other.

"Alright, what are you two keeping from me?"

I looked at Jack in surprise. "We're not keeping anything from you" I fibbed.

"Don't lie." Jack was starting to get a bit peeved. "You two constantly have your little inside jokes lately. What's up with you?" The last question was aimed at me. "We used to be so close, but it feels like your drifting away. What can be so bad that you can't tell me, but you can tell Aiden?"

My heart was racing. "I haven't told Aiden anything. There's nothing to tell." Aiden was eyeing me, and could notice how I was panicking.

"There is, now fess up. You can tell me anything."

"She's been covering for me."

Jack's head shot towards Aiden in a second. Slightly startled by Aiden speaking up, I soon realised what he was doing. He was giving up his secret. He was giving up his secret, to stop my own from being found out.

"Why would she need to cover for you?"

* * *

><p>I was walking out of the Hogshead at five to eleven. I'd told them that I had to go back and revise for a test I had on Monday. To be honest they were more focused on what Aiden had confessed, I was too. My head wasn't concentrated on where I was meeting the others, my feet were taking me there automatically.<p>

I was so focused on my problems, I didn't think of what other problems people could face.

Walking into the Three Broomsticks, I saw Holly and Dom, with Rose stuck in the middle. They were blocking her exits, but Rose was still eyeing the table as if to wonder if she could crawl underneath it.

"Alright?" Rose looked up when she heard me, her face pleading with me to help her escape.

"Honestly? You think I can take Dom and Holly while you run away? I can't even get Holly to stop dressing her cat up in drag."

"He's not in drag!" Holly protested

"Is he a male cat?"

"Yeah"

"Do you put him in dresses?"

"Yeah"

"Then you dress him in drag." Holly huffed while Dom carried on smiling. "Isn't this great" she sang. "Rose is breathing in fresh air, rather than that old, contaminated air of the library."

"I like old and contaminated air." Rose growled. "Let me go!"

"No way!" She smiled. "I've got a bruise the size of a cauldron on my ass thanks to you. So you're not getting away that easily."

As Rose slumped in defeat, I asked "Do I want to know?"

Holly smirked and said "Not really, I think Madam Pince was chucking books at Dom to try and stop Rose's screaming."

I laughed. "Violent kidnap was it? Where's Al?"

"Being everyone's personal slave." Albus said, as he approached the table with a tray of drinks. "Alright, who ordered what?"

After all the drinks had been dished out, he turned to me, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

We all started putting forward ideas on where we were going to go, casually ignoring Rose every time she said any sentence which had the words 'Book', 'Library' and 'I hate you all' in them.

After visiting the Shrieking Shack, Zonko's and Honeydukes, it was ten to one. And I hadn't managed to work 'I have to go' into the conversation.

Holly had also noticed the time though luckily, as she said "Right Ames, Let's go shopping!"

"Ooh Shopping!" Dom shrieked. "Can I come?"

_Shit._

"Sure! Were going to that bread place down the road, you know, 'Baker's Dozen' I think it's called!"

Dom froze. I was mentally high-fiving Holly right now.

"Ummm, now I think about it, I've got loads of homework that needs to be in on Monday so….." As a master of terrible lies and having used the same lie earlier to get away from my brothers, I know a faker when I see one.

"Aww too bad." Holly pouted. "Oh well, see ya." She then skipped off, with me following at a slower and more sane pace.

"That was good, but quick question. What are you going to do while I'm on my date?"

"She looked at me like I'd said something stupid. "Go to the bread shop."

"Ah."

* * *

><p>The Edge of Hogsmeade was exactly like I'd been told it would be. Quiet, no students, Secluded.<p>

And standing outside Joe's, Potter was looking worried.

When he saw me however, the nervous look disappeared, and a genuine smile took it's place.

"You made it." He said. "I thought you weren't going to show." I'd told James about the fact that four people wanted me to go to Hogsmeade with them. After all, I had to tell him that there may be a chance I wouldn't be able to get away from them.

"Dom wanted to come along 'Shopping'" I gave him a look. "Shall we go in then?"

"Yeah. You look amazing by the way." He turned, pulled open the door, and waited for me to enter. I was enjoying myself already.

"Thank you" I smiled, walking through the door.

Thirty minutes later, our food had arrived, our drinks had been served, and we were in our own private room.

"So how come we're not eating with everyone else?" I lifted my glass of Gillywater, and took a sip. Another drink I was allowed, due to no alcohol content.

"You being serious? My family doesn't exactly get a private life. If we eat out there, we'll be on the front cover of tomorrow's Daily Prophet."

"It must annoy you sometimes." I couldn't imagine living my life in front of the camera's since I was born.

"Sometimes. I'm use to it now. But I can't take you just anywhere, or the press will be badgering you for the rest of your life."

"You always look out for other people?"

He smiled. "I try my best."

"What about your dad? You must hate being compared to him."

He actually laughed. "You'd think. But my dad's amazing. He may have saved the Wizarding World, but to me, he's just dad. The guy who has to call his wife to do a simple household spell. The guy who always had time for his kids, teaching us how to play Quidditch and helping us with Defence homework. It's not that I don't like being compared to him." He paused while he tried to phrase his next sentence. "It's that I don't want to let him down."

I reached across and put my hand on top of his. "I'm sure you won't."

"It's why I want to be a Quidditch player. It's why he wants me to be one too. I love it. It's who I am, not who the press want to make me. Albus was the one who wanted to become an Auror like dad. He'd be so disappointed with me if he knew I'd got you pregnant. Even if I did fancy you."

I smirked. "You fancy me eh?"

He laughed, a real laugh, before he said "Yeah, I think I just might."

At this point, an old man with a rather impressive handle bar moustache walked up to our solitary table in the back room. "Is everything alright with your meals, Signor Potter?"

James smiled at the old guy. "Yeah Joe, it's great."

"Who's the lucky girl?"

"Oh I'm sorry." He looked to me. "Ames, this is Joe Russo. He owns the place. Joe, this is Amy Swann."

Joe picked up my hand, the one that was currently not resting on James', and kissed it. "You've chosen well Signor Potter."

He laughed as he walked out the room again. I turned back to James who had a grin on his face. I was confused.

"If you said you couldn't trust most places not to turn you into the press, how come…."

He seemed to know what I was asking even before I had finished, as he responded "Joe has a soft spot for the whole Potter/Weasley family. His daughter married the Irish Keeper Barry Ryan, and he's had to watch his granddaughter Annette live a life in front of the cameras. He wouldn't turn us in."

"Annette Ryan?" I was speechless. I didn't think of the Potters or the Weasleys as being Celebrities, having known Al, Dom and Rose since first year. But Annette Ryan was definitely an A list Celeb Teen. "You know Annette Ryan?"

"Do I know her?" He looked amused at my question. "She's been over at our house for dinner at least five times over summer. She has her own soft spot for Fred." This time he sniggered.

"I shouldn't be surprised should I?" I grinned myself. "I guess you know all the celebrities."

"Well, we are connected." He summed up, eating more of his meal. We fell into a comfortable silence, until James broke it.

"How did your Healer appointment go?"

I was stunned by his question. So much had happened since then, and it had only been a week. "It was ok. They didn't do anything big, like I said. Just gave me vitamins, and booked me in for the first scan."

"The first scan?" He seemed genuinely interested.

"Yeah. The first time you see the baby."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Can I….. I mean would you mind if I….." He seemed nervous all of a sudden. "Would you mind if I come? I mean, it's probably already real for you. The throwing up and the cravings _make_ it real for you. But I haven't got signs telling me I'm having a baby." His lips quirked slightly, as I snorted, imagining James with a baby bump.

I smiled slightly. "Sure." I was very aware that heat was creeping into my cheeks. "I'd like that."

We stared at each other, until James burst into laughter. "This is all backwards. I'm meant to have asked you on a date, then kissed you, then eventually slept with you. I'm not doing this right am I?"

I joined him in his laughter. "Not quite, but I'm getting used to it. It's a lot more dramatic." This caused a new round of laughter from both of us.

"Oh that reminds me." He turned to the door and yelled "Hey Joe! Can you bring it in now?"

While we were waiting for Joe to _'bring it in'_, he went on to say "Your dramatic scene you pulled in dinner the other day was hilarious, I didn't know that cravings meant women turned violent." He was talking about when I'd pushed Holly onto the floor.

At that point, Joe walked in with a jar of peanut butter and placed in on the table.

"Here you go, put it on your food to your hearts content. I swear I won't judge."

I think my heart just melted into a gooey mess.

* * *

><p>"And your acting sappy, because he made sure you had a jar of peanut butter?"<p>

I was smiling. I was happy. And it was freaking Holly out.

We were currently in 'Mums and Tums', which was either really creepy, or really cute. I'd decide if I actually bought something.

"Yeah, he did. Isn't that amazing?"

Holly snorted. "To be honest, I'd rather have flowers and chocolate."

I nudged her, before adding "I can't believe I didn't screw up the plan. Nothing went wrong."

I then started looking through some of the shelves. There was a t-shirt that said 'I grow people, what's your superpower?' that was funny, and Holly had already picked up one that said 'Warning: Sudden Mood Swings and Cravings May Occur'. She'd decided that it was hilarious and wasn't going to leave without it.

But to be honest, both were kind of shouting out to the whole world that I was pregnant, and that's kind of the opposite I was going for.

"As cool as this section is, they're a bit obvious."

"Well go look over there, I like this section."

Walking over to the left I saw a sign that was bright and colourful. As I got closer I saw that it said:

_INVISIBUMPS! INSTANT ILLUSION OF A FLATTER STOMACH!_

They had different types. Some could be worn for twelve hours straight, but only halved the size of the baby bump. Others could be worn for only two hours, for say a party, but made the whole bump seemingly disappear. I grabbed a few of each and chucked them into the basket Holly was holding. She picked one up and gave it a once over.

"Neat." She said chucking it back in.

"Good idea isn't it?"

After moving on to another area, where I found several loose tops, trousers, jeans, and dresses that were nice, I found Holly again and I looked down to what she was holding.

"No way. There is no way I would _ever_ wear that."

"Why not?"

She was holding a vest top which said 'You can touch my belly, if I can punch your face'.

"It's violent, it means people will see my belly, never mind touch it. It's horrible."

Holly stamped her foot. Like a toddler. "Well _I_ like it. So _I'm_ buying it." She put it in the basket. I pulled it out again.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

She'd put the basket down by this point, and we were having a full out tug of war.

"No you're not"

"Yes I am"

"No you're not"

"Yes I am"

"No you're not"

"Oh come on. You can wear it to bed or something. No one has to know you're pregnant."

SMASH

Turning towards the door of the shop, Rose and Dom were standing frozen like statues, Dom having dropped a cup from the shelf.

"You're pregnant?"

Oh crap.

**A/N: I was going to split this chapter into two, but thought that you could all have an extra long chapter :)  
><strong>

**UHOH! Rose and Dom know! How will they react?**


	23. My Girls Now Know

"I…..I….." Great. Speech seems to have failed me. Just what I need.

Dom was still frozen. Unluckily for me, Rose was not. And she was pissed.

"You're bloody _pregnant_?" Rose hissed. "And you didn't _tell_ me?"

I'd seen Rose angry before, but this was another level of anger. She was meant to be one of my friends, so I could see where she was coming from. I felt so bad.

"Leave her alone."

Rose turned her glare on Holly. "Butt out. This is between me and her."

"I don't think it is." Holly was getting defensive of me now. I didn't know whether to feel gratitude for it, or to carry on feeling guilty for keeping Rose and Dom in the dark.

"She shouldn't have kept it from us, friends don't do that."

"Have you maybe thought there might be a reason why she didn't tell you?"

"Guys can we do this somewhere else? We're in the middle of a shop." Luckily, 'Mums and Tums' was empty, apart from one or two people who hadn't yet looked our way.

"Fine." Rose snapped. She turned and stormed off, only stopping to grab Dom's arm and pull her with her. When we finally got around to arguing again, it would not be pretty.

I let my head fall into my hands. "Oh god!" I groaned. "Just when everything was going right."

"Chill out." Holly seemed perfectly calm. "So she found out. Big deal. You had to tell them at some point anyway. At least it was sooner rather than later."

"Later would have given me more time to decide _how_ to tell her."

"Trust me, later would have meant an angrier Rose." Holly turned back to our basket, which had been forgotten in the confrontation. "We should buy this and then go back to the dorm. Get the argument over with."

Walking back up to the castle was nerve racking. It felt as if I was walking to my doom. And I was not just being dramatic.

"Will you stop worrying. You're annoying me."

"Sorry."

Easier said than done.

I sighed. "What if she tells everyone?" Holly stopped walking and looked at me.

"She wouldn't." She said, trying to calm me down. I could feel myself hyperventilating. "She's not the kind of girl to spread gossip. And even if she was, she'd at least give you the chance to explain why you didn't tell her."

We carried on walking up in silence. I just concentrated on breathing, and putting one foot in front of the other.

Opening the door to the dormitory, Dom was sat on her bed, just as still as she was in the shop. Rose was pacing the floor. As soon as she saw us enter, she let rip.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME? I'M MEANT TO BE ONE OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS! AND YOU COULDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE…."

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone went quiet. Rose stared at Holly in shock. And so was I. _Holly never shouted._

We walked further into the room, with Holly closing the door behind us. She then cast the _'Muffliato_' charm.

"Let's try not to let everyone hear us Rose." This time Holly was the one who was glaring Rose. I didn't think I could fight my own battles right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at arguing. Just take my brother for example, whenever he scares off a potential boyfriend. But it wasn't a situation where he would judge me. _Or leave me_.

Rose could do both those things.

"Rose switched her gaze from Holly to me. "Come on then. You wanted to continue this somewhere private. I'm waiting."

I let my face show just what I was feeling. Regret. "I am _so_ so sorry."

"Sorry's not going to work. At least not until you admit why you thought you couldn't tell me." Rose looked really hurt. The anger had disappeared, but she still looked saddened.

"I..I didn't want you to judge me. It's not exactly something I planned, but I'm trying to deal with it the best I can." I looked down so I didn't have to see her reject me.

"You thought I'd judge you? Do you not _know_ me?" My head shot up.

"You're not going to?"

"Of course not. I'm a Weasley. People judged both my Mum and Dad's families in the war. Who am I to judge others, unless they've done something to earn it."

"So you're not mad at me?"

"Oh, I'm mad. Mad that you thought I would abandon you, just because you were pregnant. Mad that you didn't think you could tell me." Rose collapsed back onto her bed.

"If it helps, I really wish I'd told you when I found out." I felt really guilty, which had been happening a lot recently.

"You going to tell me who the father is?"

"Nope. Holly only knows because she knew who I'd slept with before I even knew I was expecting."

She sighed before looking up. "Alright, you know you can tell me whenever you're ready?"

People _seriously_ need to stop asking me that. Because there's no other response I can give them other than "Yeah, I know".

"Does the father know? What about Jack?"

"Yes and No respectfully. And I'd like to keep it that way."

Rose let out a low whistle. "He is going to kill that guy." I knew that. I had images running through my head of Jack decapitating James. Or 'Avada Kedavra'ing his ass. But like in cartoons, James always jumped back up, unhurt and they embraced like brothers. I really needed to sort my head out.

Rose seemed to have calmed down enough for me to walk over to my bed and relax after the day I had. Running around all day can't have been good for the baby, as well as all the stress I had from avoiding people and fighting with Rose. I was not moving from my bed, until tomorrow midday. What with it being a Sunday and all.

Dom still hadn't moved. "You alright Dom?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Just shocked I guess." That wasn't the Dom I knew. "Want me to kick the father's ass?"

Ah. There she is.

I laughed. "Nah, I'm good." Rose stopped organising her books, and looked in my direction.

"Does that mean he knows and is going to help you?"

I was confused, "What do you mean?"

"If he had gone and pissed off, you'd have got Dom to beat him senseless. Is he going to be there?"

"Yeah. He is." I smiled shyly getting ready for bed, even though it was only six. Rose groaned.

"And you can't tell us who he is? Not even a little clue?" She seemed to be begging now. I guess it's not everyday you get pulled into this kind of drama. What am I saying? She's a Weasley, she practically grew up in drama.

"No way. I want this to work. And it's not going to if he's got people breathing down his neck, and that includes my brother. He'd kill him for getting me pregnant, he'd kill me for getting pregnant, and spend the rest of eternity in Azkaban for the double murder he committed. Not exactly a bright future for any of us."

"You're just over exaggerating now." Dom smirked "I mean, Jack would kill _him_, but not you. He loves you too much."

"Funny." my sarcasm was not lost on them, as they broke out into giggles. This made me realise that Holly was no where to be seen. "Guys, where's Holly gone?"

Timing was always on Holly's side. As I mentioned her disappearance, she burst through the door, breathing hard, and holding a plate.

"Umm Holly, Why are you holding a custard pie?"

After taking a few more gasps of air, she responded. "I said I'd be there to help you, if she gave you a hard time, I was gunna chuck it at her face."

"And if she didn't?"

"I'm hungry anyway."

* * *

><p>Lessons. Something that was put on this earth to make our lives really boring. After all, life can't be <em>all<em> drama could it?

Morning had started off as normal. Turns out the day that I didn't throw up was just a fluke, and that I was still puking my guts up every morning. At least, with Dom and Rose now knowing I was pregnant, I could be as loud as I wanted. Hey, if I had to put up with it, they did too.

So imagine my surprise, when I got pulled into a small alcove in the hall, which you couldn't see into, unless you were inside it.

"WHAT THE…" I cut myself off however, when I realised who it was that had pulled me in.

James was smirking down at the look on my face. "Hi." he said, before pushing me gently back against the wall, and kissing me.

I think my mind just blanked.

Pulling away, I smiled and whispered "Hi. What was that for?"

"I haven't seen you since Saturday. It's now Monday. Do I need a reason other than that?" He was really close to me now, looking right into my eyes.

"Ummm…."

I think I wanted to say something. What was it again? "I….don't think so?"

Ah, my words never fail me. Definitely should have that career as a Public speaker.

James moved away, once again smirking. Probably at his ability to turn my thoughts to mush. Once my head was clear, and I was able to move my limbs, I pushed him further away.

"It's not funny."

"I think it is."

"I'm going to be late, they're probably wondering where I've gone."

James laughed out loud this time. "I think this has happened before. Didn't you say that you being late meant many things happening, which eventually leads to you falling behind in class?"

"Exactly. So I have to go." But I didn't _want_ to.

"Alright, then go."

He was waiting for me to walk away. Mind you, I was too. _Still_ waiting.

"See, you don't want to go." He was having way too much fun with this.

"So what? Neither do you."

He shrugged. "True, but I have a free."

It was weird. I hadn't felt this comfortable with someone other than Jack and Holly. And I didn't want to leave, he was right.

"Oh by the way, Rose and Dom know I'm pregnant."

His eyebrows shot up comically. "They do?"

"Yeah, They walked into a shop, where me and Holly were arguing quite loudly."

"Wow, do they know the baby's mine?"

"No. I didn't want to chance Jack finding out."

"Good call." He looked thoughtful, before smirking "So, you going to Defence?"

His mouth was inches from mine once again, and I couldn't stop myself from staring at his lips.

"I think so."

Lips almost touching, he added "You sure about that?"

* * *

><p>For the second time within a month, I was walking into Defence late. Only this time, instead of being minutes late. I was half an hour late. James managed to keep me busy by snogging me to kingdom come.<p>

I decided to try to sneak to an empty space without being caught.

"Miss Swann, Detention at seven thirty."

_Damn you James Potter._


	24. My Hormones Bring Out the Worst in Me

Today was not a good day. I managed to drag myself out of bed, only to run to the bathroom to throw up. I didn't understand morning sickness. Or where the Sick was coming from. I mean, it's not like I eat all night when I'm asleep. I shouldn't physically have _anything_ to throw up.

I felt a pair of hands pull my blonde hair out the way. Seeing as Holly's bed was already empty that morning, probably off for a run, it had to be either Dom or Rose. It was a lot easier with them both knowing I was pregnant. I didn't have to make excuses for why I was throwing up. There is only so many times you can say you have food poisoning. And they could hold back my hair. Always a bonus.

After dry-retching for the last couple of minutes, I sat back against the cold tiles, and Dom cleaned the sick of my face. I must have looked so attractive. She gave me a look of sympathy, before helping me up and back into the dorm. I got dressed but had lost my tie, so had to go without one, because I was running late.

As we got to the Gryffindor table, there was hardly any food left. All the food that didn't make me want to hurl again had already been eaten. I poured myself a cup of decaf, sipped my coffee and growled. It just tasted so empty, compared to the normal version. I realised that I had accidentally sat next to James without noticing, but was glad after he slid his plate closer to me, without arousing suspicion. He'd saved some of the food for me. Maybe my luck was changing.

Sadly that was too optimistic for me, as first lesson, I managed to melt everyone's cauldron in my row, meaning me and the others were given a T for the class, something which had shocked good old Grayson. I never failed Potions.

Then Professor Trimble, in DADA took ten points from Gryffindor, because I wasn't wearing my tie. I told him I had lost it, and he just replied that I should be more organised. I didn't respond, knowing that I was trying to hold the tears back. Damn Hormones.

By the time I got back to the Common room in the evening, I had come to the conclusion that it was one of the worst days that I had ever had at Hogwarts. After having food accidentally spilt on me by Thomas Creevey, and being pelted with flour bombs by Peeves, I was a mess, and ready to break down at any minute.

Then I saw Veronica getting as close to James as she possibly could. What she was doing in our common room I didn't know, but she was doing everything she could to get his attention. I turned around and sprinted up into the dormitory. Holly followed not too long after.

"What's wrong? Why'd you run up here?" she said standing in the doorway.

And that's all it took for my walls to break and the tears to start leaking out my eyes. Holly looked like a deer caught in headlights. It would have looked very comical, if I wasn't already crying my eyes out.

"Veronica is all over James" I whimpered. "And he's going to give her a chance at some point. They'll fall in love, and get hitched and raise my baby as their own, because he or she will love her more than me." I was getting more and more hysterical the more I imagined it. "Or what if Veronica doesn't like my child?" I started gasping in between sobs, and Holly started to panic. Tears were pouring out of my eyes. I tried to stop, but the hormones kept them coming.

"Oh God!" shouted Holly. she ran to the door and yelled down the stairs, "Somebody Help Me!"

"She's gunna marry him and be my kids stepmother!" I just couldn't find the common sense to stop crying, everything seemed so serious at that point. "She's going to have two ugly kids, and they're gunna make my child's life a living hell!"

At this point, Dom and Rose came running into the dormitory, wands out, ready to curse someone after Holly's shout for help. They put their wands down in confusion at the same time I yelled "SHE'S NOT GOING TO LET THEM GO TO THE BALL!" and threw myself down on the bed, crying my eyes out.

"She's lost it. She's actually lost the plot." whispered Rose as she took small steps towards me, hands raised in surrender. Dom _muffliato_'d the dorm.

I sobbed louder. They didn't understand that the world was crumbling around me. They were right, I was going to be locked up in St Mungo's.

"They're gunna take the baby away, and I'll have to buy a goat to replace it, and then I'll be a crazy goat lady. I DON'T EVEN LIKE GOATS!"

"Someone needs to calm her down now." Dom said to Rose and Holly, who was in the process of building a barricade made out of duvets, pillows and trunks, in order to, and I quote 'Hide from the crazy hormonal schoolgirl'.

Rose continued forward until she was right next to me and sat down on the bed. I picked myself up off the bed and hurled myself into Rose's arms. Apparently I was in a dramatic mood. She started stroking my hair, and said "No one's going to take your baby away from you. So you're not going to have to buy a goat", she grinned up at Dom, who was muffling her laughter. I managed to stop crying for a few minutes to listen.

"Yeah. And Veronica's not going to marry James, he wouldn't go anywhere near her if he could manage it. So she won't be your kid's stepmother" Holly said from behind her barricade.

I froze. I could feel Rose stiffen next to me. I looked up from Rose's shoulder to see similar looks of shock on both the Weasley's faces._ OH SHIT_.

"JAMES IS THE FATHER!" they yelled simultaneously. I looked anywhere but them, shameful at the fact that I hadn't told them that the baby was their family too. I could feel the tears welling up. _Here we go again_.

"Does anyone else know?" Dom asked. I shook my head. I was now imagining Jack's reaction, and in each scenario, James ended up killed. By Jack. I started weeping again.

"JAMES IS GUNNA DIE!" I wailed, throwing myself back into Rose's arms. She resumed stroking my hair, and whispering that it would all be ok.

"We won't let that happen" muttered Rose, making me get into my bed. "Forget about everything. Relax and go to sleep, the stress can't be good for the baby."

As I rolled over, I felt terrible about lying to them about who the father was. 'Relax and go to sleep'. Easier said than done. I could hear Rose and Dom, both talking quietly, on one of the other beds, and wish I'd told them sooner. _They deserved to know_, I thought.

"Is it safe to come out now?" Holly said, still hiding behind her self-made barricade.


	25. My Little Alien is Real

The next four weeks past in a blur. After finding out who the father was, Rose and Dom had stormed straight up to James, when he was alone of course, and gave him a slap each. Roughly followed by 'If you so much as hurt her, we'll make sure you can't have kids again', they stormed off, leaving him to wonder if they had both turned crazy.

James had officially asked me to be his girlfriend. Though we couldn't exactly go on real dates, or hold each others hands in the corridors. There were a number of things to think about. Jack, students telling the press, Jack, the stress all the attention would have on the baby, Jack. Did I mention _Jack_?

The fact we couldn't go public, meant that both of us were getting our fair choice of people asking us out.

"The answer is NO! I've tried to say it nicely, but you're just not getting it."

I was currently being followed by a sixth year Hufflepuff. Who was too up himself for my liking.

"Oh come on. You're singe, I'm single. You're hot, I'm hot. It's a perfect match." He was leaning on the wall next to me smirking. "I want you."

"Sadly, we don't always get what we want." Clearly he was intruding in my space, and no one in the halls was stopping to pull him away. _HELLO! PERSONAL SPACE INVADER OVER HERE!_

"Usually when a girl says no, she means no." The Hufflepuff turned around, to see Jack standing behind him.

I've never seen someone run so fast. It was highly amusing.

"You okay?" Jack, always looking out for me, even if it's really annoying sometimes. Well at least this time it was welcomed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What you doing here?"

"Me and the boys were just on the way to class." I looked behind him to see James still looking angrily in the same direction the Hufflepuff guy ran off in. _Somebody's jealous_. "Not that I'm not happy about it, but you haven't been dating a guy since Jason Davies at the party, you alright?"

_Oh brother. How little you know me._

"I'm alright. Just, seen the light I suppose?"

Jack looked ready to pat himself on the back. "See, not dating until you're thirty is a good idea."

"Well, I wouldn't say that long." Before he could respond, I turned and carried on walking to the last lesson of the day, Herbology.

Professor Longbottom was cool. There was no other words to describe him. Having been a friend of the Potter's and Weasley's since they themselves went to Hogwarts, he got on well with the various children of their families. And their friends. By the time I got down to the greenhouses, my class had already started the lesson, and were currently chasing the Leaping Toadstool's around the greenhouse.

The Professor noticed me sneak in and walked in my direction. _Yes. I was late. Again._

"Why are you late Amy?" He didn't look angry, just curious.

"You know the usual. Stopped on your way to lessons by a vain guy, said vain guy asks you to be his girlfriend because you're, and I quote, 'hot and single'. Same old, same old." Neville just looked amused. "So am I going to get a detention?"

Neville just smirked and tapped his nose. "Why would you get a detention. You were on time weren't you?" He then turned and helped Lorna Unsworth catch a passing toadstool.

I love being friends with the Weasleys/Potters.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the reason I made friends with them. I had heard of them, being in a magical family and all, but when I got on the train, I just made friends with two girls called Dom and Rose, and a boy called Al. They didn't tell me their full names. Can't say I blame them. I guess they wanted to make real friends before telling the world who they really are.

I pulled on my gloves, and set off after a particularly fast toadstool that Al was chasing.

At dinner, we all crashed down onto the table.

"I'm knackered." Dom moaned, her head resting on the table. "I can't even lift my head up. Rose can you prop my head up for me."

"You make it sound like I have the strength to do that. Maybe you should lift my arm and smack Albus with it."

"Hey! What have I done?" Albus looked confused. Rose just sighed and said "We were meant to catch five toadstools each. Correct?"

"Yeah."

"No where in the instructions did it say 'Take five toadstools out of Rose's hands, so she has to catch more'."

"But it was hard." Al mumbled, spooning himself some mashed potato.

"It was hard for you? I had to catch ten. TEN!"

It wasn't only Rose who had to catch more than her five. Dom and Holly had decided that I wasn't allowed to go running around the classroom. So between them, they caught five more and handed them to me. While I had to wander around the classroom pretending I was doing something. iNot that I'm complaining/i.

"Yeah it was really hard work." I smirked before grabbing my sacred jar of peanut butter, and dipping chicken drumsticks into it. _What? My craving's were in control of me now._

Dom and Holly glared at me, before Rose looked at me in shock. "How are you not even tired?"

"I'm obviously fitter and better at running than you." I smiled, trying not to let a giggle escape. Albus just looked knackered.

"But I'm on the Quidditch team. And Dom is too! Rose plays at home and…Holly chases thestrals."

"It's hilarious when you can hear them running about, even though they're invisible." Holly just shrugged, and carried on eating.

I sighed, and decided to go up early for sleep. I'd been sleeping a lot lately, for a very obvious reason. "I'm going to go up to bed." They all waved half heatedly, before I left the hall.

By the time I reached my dorm, I was exhausted. When I was nearly ready for bed, I remembered.

My Healer appointment was tomorrow. Which I hadn't told James about.

Hoping that all the boys didn't read each others mail, I quickly wrote a note to James.

_I need to see you. I'm in my dormitory alone, so I can meet you somewhere now._

_-A_

I walked over to the small owl perch I had. Jack, Aiden and I all had small owl perches, because unlike other owls, Missy did not like to sleep in the owlery. Instead she took it in turns to stay in each of our dormitories. Luckily, she was in mine tonight.

"Missy, can you deliver this for me? You know who James is right?" She hooted in response, holding her leg out for me to tie the note on. I opened the window, and she flew off.

Not even ten minutes later, I heard the tapping on my window, and opened it so Missy could fly back in. I opened the response.

_Stay there. I'll be right in._

_-J_

I was confused. How could he get in? It's not like he could take the stairs.

The door opened. And James just walked straight in, like it was normal.

"How the hell did you get in here?" I said, shocked at him actually standing there.

"Secret passageway." He shrugged whilst smirking. "My grandfather found lots of passageways. It's only fair I do too." He walked over and dropped onto my bed. "So, did you really want to talk to me? Or did you just want to snog?" He wiggled his eyebrows, which caused me to hit him with a pillow. Standard Cause and effect. It happened to me a lot. I sleep with James Potter, I get pregnant. He wiggles his eyebrows, he get's hit with a pillow.

"And how exactly do you get to this secret passageway?"

"It runs from the top of the boy's staircase, to the top of the girl's staircase. Easy to find. Picture of Romeo on the boys side, picture of Juliet on the girl's. Then they have a picture of them both actually _in_ the passageway, so they can act as lookouts. Almost like Gryffindor wanted boys to get into the girls dormitories."

"He must have."

James nodded before leaning in and kissing me on the lips. "So, what did you need me for?"

"I didn't want to put it in writing, but we have a Healer's appointment tomorrow."

He raised his eyebrows. "We do? How come I'm hearing this now and not sooner."

"Forgot." I shrugged my shoulders. "How are we going to get you there, without press seeing you walk into St Mungo's with me?"

James looked thoughtful, before turning towards me and smiling. "Leave it to me." He then proceeded to kiss me again. After a few seconds, I pushed him away.

"Wait a minute, before you go distracting me with your manly wiles. You're not going to tell me how?" James laughed before rolling over, so he was on top of me, supporting his weight with his arms.

"Trust me. I've been sneaking around for a_ long_ time. I also know how to avoid the press. So are we good?"

"Okay then."

He placed his hand by my cheek and turned my head slightly so he could kiss me better. After five minutes of making out with him, the door slammed open and the three other girls walked in.

"Amy we're having a disagreement. Don't you think…."

Rose, Dom and Holly all stopped and stared at us.

_Well this is awkward._

"Ummm…so I'm going to go." I nodded as he climbed off my bed. "Where are we meeting tomorrow?"

"Nine o'clock. By the hump backed witch." He moved past Holly and the others, all of whom were still staring at him.

He turned back, "See you then." James then walked out, closing the door behind him. After the door shut, their heads shot back to me.

"Was that a _boy_ in our room?"

It was the day I'd finally see my baby. Until now, it was just there in the back of my mind. I may of changed my diet, been sick every morning (Though not just in the mornings. Some days it happened all day long. The people who decided to name it _morning sickness_ obviously didn't have a clue.) and been extremely hormonal, but it just wasn't real yet.

As I walked towards the Gunhilda of Gorsemoor Corridor on the third floor, my emotions were all over the place.

I was scared. Scared there might be something wrong with him or her. It took all my control not to turn around and sprint back to my dorm. I was tired, up all night because I was worrying. But more than that. I was bloody excited.

It's not everyday you can say 'I've got a baby in my body, can you show me what it looks like?'.

Approaching the statue of the hump backed healer who discovered a cure for dragon pox, I saw someone standing close to it. I didn't recognise them, so I thought they might be someone new.

"Hey Ames, you ready?"

_He apparently knew me._

"Umm..do I know you?"

The guy smirked. "I guess it works then. I told you you could trust me." I remembered someone saying that to me recently, and my eyes widened when it occurred to me who had.

"James?"

His smile widened. "You ready?"

I was still shocked. "But….how…..you don't look like you."

He nodded. "The teachers always keep an eye out for any funny business if they see me, Fred, Jack or Sean around. Makes it hard to pull pranks, or use magic in detentions. So Fred's dad sends us polyjuice potion and a few hairs from local muggles for us to use. It helps, believe me."

I laughed, it was one of the strangest sights I had seen. A complete stranger speaking with James' voice. I decided to answer his previous question. "Yeah, I'm ready."

He tapped the hump with his wand and said '_Dissendium_', then we walked through and down to Hogmeade.

"You want to use my fireplace again."

"Yes please."

"Where you going?"

"London."

Aberforth Dumbledore was hesitating this time. He must have thought last time was a one off. Now that I'd come back, and brought someone with me, he was having doubts.

"What are you doing in London?"

"It's nothing bad Ab. I just can't tell the teachers."

"Then it must be bad, if you can't tell teachers. What does he have to do with it?" he pointed at James, who was still disguised, and therefore unrecognisable.

"He's coming with me." Aberforth looked slightly annoyed. I didn't blame him to be honest.

"But who is he?"

"Johnny." I didn't wait for James to answer. "Johnny Phillips."

Silence fell amongst the three of us for a few moments. It was broken by Aberforth.

"Are you going to be using my fireplace any more times this year?"

I nodded. "Probably a couple of times." Aberforth hesitated again, he had a soft spot for me and Holly, but this was still pushing it for him.

"You can use it, just as long as you promise you're not doing anything illegal."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you, and I promise." Both me and James grabbed a handful of floo powder, and flooed to St Mungo's after Aberforth had left the room, so he didn't hear where we were going.

As we stepped out of the fireplace in the hospital, James turned to me with an amused expression on his face. "Johnny Phillips?"

I thought it was very inventive. "Same initials as you. I thought it was quite creative."

We walked past the welcome desk, where the same welcome witch who was there on my first visit was glaring at me again. _I guess she remembers me_.

"Umm, why is she glaring at you?" James seemed confused. I would be too, if a stranger was glaring at someone I knew for no apparent reason.

"She knows why I'm here." I said, dragging James in the direction of the lifts. By the time we reached the sixth floor, I walked off towards the desk, James following behind me. Marie was on shift today, and saw me approaching.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"As good as can be expected." I smiled back. I think I may spend the rest of my life on this floor. Everyone is nice up here.

"Is this the dad?" She'd caught sight of James, hanging around in the background. He moved forward at this point.

"Yeah." He said. Marie gave him a kind smile before pulling out forms. "We just need both of you to fill out these forms, and answer some questions. Just so we get a medical background."

I had a sudden thought. There would be no medical records for a Johnny Phillips. No family records either.

Both me and James looked at each other at the same time. I had to ask Marie about confidentiality.

"Marie, anything we share, it's kept quiet yes?" She looked confused.

"Doctor-patient confidentiality. If we're medical personnel, we can't share any information with anyone other than you or family, if you are unable to make decisions."

"Can we talk somewhere else?" I looked around, making sure no one else noticed.

"Of course."

To say Marie was shocked when we told her who 'James' really was, would be an understatement. But it would save a lot of confusion, if medical records were needed. She said she'd let the Healer know, so all we had to do was wait.

I was sat on the table, with James standing next to me. My top half had been changed for a hospital gown, with my trousers on the bottom. And we waited.

"Do you get reactions like that a lot?"

I turned in his direction. "Like what?"

"The glare you got from the welcome witch."

"Oh." I thought back to all the reactions I'd had. "Rose was just angry I didn't tell her. You and Dom were shocked. Holly seemed to be okay with it to be honest. Marie was understanding. The welcome witch is the only other person who knows. I guess she probably thinks I'm a slut."

"That's not fair." He seemed genuinely concerned about it.

"It's life. Welcome to the world. Everyone's looking to judge you. You should know that."

"I know what it's like to be judged. But it's been 'Can he fly as well as his dad?' or 'Is he going to be an Auror?'. It's never been names. My dad still argues with the media about how they portray people."

"Then you're lucky."

At this point, Healer Jones entered. "Hello again." he smiled in my direction. "And you must be Mr Potter." He held out his hand. James hesitantly took it.

"So we're hopefully going to see the baby today. Are you nervous?"

"Just a bit." He gave me a look that said he clearly didn't believe me. "Alright, a lot. Can you tell if there's anything wrong? Can you tell me if it's a boy or a girl?"

He chuckled. "Sometimes you can spot something that is a problem, but stop worrying. And no we look for the gender at week twenty here at St Mungo's."

He moved to sit on the opposite side that James was standing. "He's a man." James whispered to me. Though not quietly enough, as Healer Jones heard and chuckled for a second time.

"James!" I whispered furiously back, but the healer just shook his head, telling me not to worry about it. "A lot of father's prefer a female midwife. Especially at the delivery. But I can assure you Mr Potter, I am very professional."

James didn't respond, but looked slightly placated. Jones moved closer before saying, "What's going to happen is I'm going to place my wand next to your stomach and cast some non-verbal charms. A picture will appear on the wall close to you." He motioned to the wall to James' left. "I'll then move my wand until we have a clear picture. Are you ready?"

I nodded, James just stood there waiting, but moved to hold my hand in response.

The Healer pointed his wand at my stomach. After a few moments, a picture formed on the wall, but was too blurry to see anything. He moved his wand a bit more.

"Okay, you see the black circle starting to form? That's your uterus. And that." He pointed to the white mass inside it. "is your baby."

Amazed. That's all I could think of to describe how I was feeling. You could see the baby's legs already formed. A slight bump where the nose would go. The baby's head perfectly formed.

I fell in love.

_With a picture._

It was my own little alien. And it was apart of me. James was staring at the wall. His grip on my hand had tightened.

"Is everything okay?" I turned to the Healer. He smiled.

"I can't see anything wrong. Would you like to hear the heartbeat?"

I replied "Yes please." and James just blindly nodded, not taking his eyes off the picture.

Healer Jones did some more wand work, and before long, the sounds of the baby's heartbeat had filled the room. My eyes started to water. The hormones were catching up with me and I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my face.

James turned his head away from the wall, and noticed me crying. He also had a soft look in his eye.

"Are you okay?" I nodded, the tears still forming.

"It's really something huh?"

I tried to catch my breath and replied "It's amazing."

"Would you like a copy?" The Healer got up to get one. As I started to nod, I got cut off by James saying "Two please."

"No problem. I'll go get them now." The healer then left the room.

"I can't believe it. It makes it all so real." I placed a hand on my stomach, feeling protective of my little alien.

The healer entered the room again. He handed one picture to each of us. It looked like a muggle ultrasound photo, but it moved like a wizard picture. Every now and then, the baby would move a leg, or an arm.

"Thank you." I said genuinely, still looking at the picture while I swung my legs off the table.

"No problem." He said again. "Are there any questions since the last time?"

"I have one or two." I said, finally lifting my head from the picture. "Can I drink butterbeer?"

He nodded. "Yes you can. But only one bottle a day. No more than that at any given time."

"What kind of exercise can I do? Can I run?"

"Now's not the time to pick up any hardcore sports like Quidditch. But running shouldn't be bad as long as it's for short periods of time."

James piped up this time. "What can I do?"

"Just keep stress levels down, keep alcohol and cigarettes away, just keep her comfortable. You can also read books or pamphlets on what to expect during and after pregnancy."

"I can do that." James looked a lot less worried now.

"I've dated your pregnancy as twelve weeks and two days. If that's everything, You should go to the desk and arrange your next appointment, to find out the sex of the baby. If you decide you don't want to, we'll just use it to see if everything's going well."

I started to walk out, when I realised James wasn't following me. "You coming?"

"Yeah, wait a minute." He then pulled out a flask, downed what was inside while wincing, before putting it away and walking in my direction.

"What was that?"

"Polyjuice potion. My hour's nearly up." I nodded, and we both walked out and up to the desk.

Marie smiled widely when she saw us. "How'd it go?"

"It was unbelievable." I grinned as James said it.

"Trust me, I was the same when I had my first scan. Here I have something for you." She reached down and picked up a bag. "Just a little gift."

James took the bag, and we both looked in the top to see what was inside. I looked up shocked.

"This is a lot of stuff." Marie chuckled.

"Honey, it's not even close to the amount of stuff you'll need." She started listing things that were in the bag. "Baby books, including what to expect, baby names, how the baby's developing. A couple of toys my Amelie doesn't need anymore. Just a few bits and bobs."

"But, why?" I didn't know why she was giving me this stuff, why she cared.

"Like I said, I've been in your position, I know how much it's going to cost, how much of your time you'll need. I'm not using it anyway."

"Thank you." James smiled and nodded too.

"It's nothing. Anyway, you need to book your appointment. I'd say at about twenty weeks. You want it on a weekend again yes?"

"That would be great."

"You're booked in for Saturday the eighth of January. We'll see you then."

"Say hi to Amelie for me."

She laughed. "I will." James and I made our way towards the lift. James was holding my hand in his, and the bag in the other.


	26. My LBP is Controlling Me

"Um…did anyone ever tell you drugs are bad for the baby?"

Before you get judgemental, I wasn't on drugs. Holly was just looking for a logical reason I was acting the way I was. It's not my fault I was happy.

"I'm not on drugs."

"Then why are you twirling?" I sighed, before falling back onto my bed. There always had to be a reason with her.

"Is it a crime to be happy?" She scoffed before turning in my direction.

"What's made you happy then?"

"Need I show you the picture?" She moaned before running into the bathroom. Then through the door, I heard her yell "If you show me that picture one more time, I'm going to eat it." I was very confused.

"Why would you eat the picture?"

"So you can't show it to me any more!" I can tell you, it didn't exactly clear up my confusion.

"And so you're going to eat it?" She opened the door slightly, and peered out the gap. "Give me credit." she said. "It was off the top of my head."

Okay. So maybe I'd gone a bit overboard showing the girls my scan picture. But in my defence, there were only three people who knew about my pregnancy, who hadn't seen the picture. And I was very excited.

"Will you two shut up!" Dom's voice was muffled by her pillow. "Some people are trying to get to sleep."

Rose grunted her reply, before rolling over and putting her pillow over her head to drown the sound out. Holly gave me a look, as if to say that she agreed, before coming back into the room, jumping into bed and closing the curtains around her.

_Well I feel loved._

I wasn't tired so I decided to go sit by the fire in the common room. It was nearly empty, with only a few Gryffindors scattered around, finishing off homework. On my way over to the fireplace, I saw Aiden sitting on his own. He was just staring off into space.

Walking over to him, I was analysing his face. He wasn't really showing any emotion, so I couldn't see if he was alright. As I approached him, I said "You okay?"

He looked up. "I didn't see you there." He then turned to stare into space again.

"How you holding up?"

"I'm holding." I didn't know how to get a reaction from him. This was the first time I'd seen him since Hogsmeade. "You spent any time with Jack?"

"What? Since Hogsmeade?" He nodded. "Yeah I have. You?" This time he shook his head.

"No. I think he's hiding from me. The odd occasion I see him around, he leaves before I can speak to him."

I gave Aiden a sympathetic look. "He's just getting used to it. It did come out of the blue, give him time."

He let out a sigh before letting his head fall into his hands.

"What made you tell us?" He turned his head slightly to look at me, the expression on his face was of complete honesty.

"You looked terrified." He straightened up. "When he asked you what you were hiding. Jack might not have noticed, but I did. I may be your little brother, but I'm here to look out for you."

He placed his hand on my shoulder. "And if that means I have to tell one of my most important secrets so you don't have to tell yours, then that's what I'm going to do."

"That's so…." I couldn't get the words out. I was speechless at the lengths Aiden would go to protect me, even if he didn't know why. I loved my brother so much right now.

And here comes the tears.

I think the tears freaked him out. "Oh God, did I make you cry?" He was starting to panic, and looking around to see if anyone had noticed. "I'm sorry. How can I make it better? Please stop crying. I'm _really_ sorry." Pregnancy had really turned me into a wuss.

I managed to get one sentence out through the waterworks. "I'm going to hug you now."

"Must you?" However that's all he was able to say before I pulled him into a hug. He sat there awkwardly for a few minutes, before he lifted his own arms and wrapped them round me as well.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. When we finally pulled back, there were only one or two people left in the common room.

Great family moment, followed by an awkward silence.

"So….."

"Yeah." The silence carried on.

"So how long have you known?" This was one of the questions that had been in my head since he confessed his secret to us in Hogsmeade.

"That I'm gay? Not too long."

* * *

><p>We'd had a long chat about how he felt now that me and Jack knew. I loved my brother, and probably still would have loved him if he'd said that he was the spawn of Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. Wouldn't have made me his sister, but I'd still love him.<p>

Jack was obviously having a harder time dealing with it. He didn't have anything against gay people, just it was a big announcement to make, and I'm sure he'd be ok with it.

Aiden had since disappeared up to his dorm, a lot happier than he had been when I first saw him. I don't suppose he'd had anyone to talk to about it. Which upset me, because even though I had my own secret, I had four people I could talk to at Hogwarts.

It was eleven o'clock. I was the only one left in the common room, the last Gryffindor having gone up a matter of minutes ago.

It gave me time to think about all that had happened this year.

I was going out with James Potter, son of the saviour of the wizarding world. I was having his baby. A little baby Potter. My brother had come out the closet.

I was getting closer to Aiden than Jack. Not on purpose, but the secrets were all too much to handle, without them affecting the relationship Jack and I shared.

And not just that. Jack was all fists first, see how it affected me later. Aiden only did something he thought was in my best interests. He may have been the youngest, but he was by far the most mature out of all three of us, and that was saying something. Seeing as he liked a good prank just as much as Jack and his mates.

The portrait opened and in walked James.

"How come you're coming in now?"

He exhaled, showing he was exhausted. "Detention. Grayson did not appreciate my effort in class."

"What did you do?"

He smirked. "Put a Weasley's Wildfire Whizbang in Graham Goyle's cauldron."

I was confused. "But Jack got a detention for doing that. And he came in from his detention hours ago." James' smirk turned into a growl.

"I bet he did. Lucky guy got given his detention with Uncle Neville. He probably only stayed an hour. Meanwhile, I was stuck sorting flobberworms without gloves for five hours." I grimaced at the thought, glad I'd never had to do that task in a detention.

"Why'd you both do it?"

"Made a comment about how fine your ass was. Jack asked me to help him, most likely as his mate and not as your boyfriend. Gave me a chance to put a firework in his cauldron without Jack asking any questions."

He dropped next to me on the sofa, and put an arm around my shoulder. I moved in closer and we sat there in silence.

"I really feel like something to eat." He looked down at me.

"You feel like something to eat, or _Baby_ feels like something to eat?"

I shrugged. "Does it matter?" James laughed.

"Guess not. Come on then, let's not keep either you or Baby waiting." He stood up, and in one motion picked me up in a fireman's lift.

"Well this is comfortable."

"Really?"

"I was being sarcastic." He chuckled, showing no intention of putting me down. Instead, as he made his way out of the common room, he replied "I heard sarcasm was the lowest form of wit."

"Maybe, but wit all the same. I can walk you know. Aren't you tired from your detention?"

"I may be tired, but I'm not going to put you down, so stop complaining." So I just hung over his shoulder, as he carried walking down halls I couldn't see.

"You have a nice ass you know."

James snorted. "Enjoying the view are you?"

"Yep." I was getting bored now. "Are we there yet?"

"Not yet."

Silence.

"Are we there yet?"

"Not yet."

I was still stuck with his ass in my face. "Are we there yet?"

"Are you going to do this all the way to the kitchens?"

I was smirking to myself internally. "You answer my question, I'll answer yours." He sighed, before responding.

"No, we're not there yet."

"Yes I am going to be doing this all the way there. Unless you put me down."

Reluctantly, James put me back on the ground. "Good, now I can wait for the blood to rush away from my head."

Eventually, we reached the kitchens. James reached forward to tickle the pear. We walked into the kitchens and before we knew it, we were surrounded by house elves.

"Master Potter has come back, how can Sushi help Master Potter." I raised my eyebrows, before leaning in the whisper in James' ear.

"Sushi? The house elf is named after Japanese food?" James gave me a subtle nod, before focusing his attention on 'Sushi'.

"Can you bring us a range of foods, and a jar of peanut butter please?" Sushi nodded and ran off with a number of other house elves to get our order.

"A range of foods?"

"You can have your pick then. I'll eat anything."

After grabbing a bowl containing chicken nuggets and pickles (James had looked at me strangely when I'd decided on those two items) and my jar of peanut butter in the other hand, we headed back up to the common room, James holding his own plate of food.

"How can you eat that?" Sitting down opposite the fire, James was looking at my choice of food in disgust. I picked up a pickle, dipped it in the peanut butter, before taking a bite.

"Because it's amazing. Anyway don't blame me, blame _your_ child."

"I think the Baby is going to be just as weird as Holly. They have to be if that's what they like."

"Hey, don't insult LBP." I realised what I'd said and started to blush. Sadly, James had also heard what I'd slipped.

"LBP?"

"Just a nickname I made for the baby." I wasn't making eye contact, preferring to stare at my tasty treat instead.

"Well what does it stand for?"

I hesitated. "Little Baby Potter." I mumbled, blushing even harder.

He stopped eating. "You…want to…give the baby my name?" He was not making this easier for me. I didn't know if he minded. For all I know, he was alright with helping out, but didn't want to give the baby his own surname.

"Yeah. If that's okay with you." I was giving him an out. I didn't want him to think I was trying to corner him into something he didn't want.

"It's more than okay." His face lit up. "Baby Potter. You sure you don't want your name in there?"

"What, like Baby Potter Swann?" I thought about it for a minute. "No, I don't like it."

We finished eating, and placed our dishes on the table. He pulled me close to him again, and I wasn't complaining.

"I've thought of a way for you to finish school." I looked up into his face.

"You have?"

"Yeah. I've got a trust fund. There's a fair bit of money in it. Mum and Dad have been putting money into Gringott's accounts for me, Al and Lily since we were born and we get access to it when we come of age. It's meant to help us get used to supporting ourselves, when we're looking for a job or a house of our own."

"What about your trust fund?"

"Well…" He was looking for ways to phrase what he wanted to say. "I graduate in June. When you need to go back to Hogwarts in September, I can look after the baby."

"What about your future?"

"It can wait. I can get a job when you graduate. I've got more than enough to live on, and provide for you and the baby until then."

I was grateful, but I couldn't let him give up on his dream. "What about Quidditch? They'll be scouting for new players near the end of the year."

He shook his head. "I'll get a proper job after you graduate. One that brings in money for definite." As I started to protest, James cut me off. "This way, I'm sure they'll let you floo to see your own child."

"It's a good idea. Except you can't be a Quidditch player. You said so yourself, it's what you wanted to do."

"I've decided. I'll get a desk job at the ministry."

When I tried to argue, he just gave me a look to say that he'd made his choice. It was an argument for another day.

We heard steps coming from the staircases. James and I managed to jump apart to the furthest ends of the sofa, when Aiden came into the room.

"Left my work here. Can't trust the older years not to spell any work left lying around to say something completely different. What are you two doing?" He'd just noticed James was in the room as well when he turned in my direction.

"Just talking. James just got in from detention, and was telling me about the flobberworms he had to sort."

Like I did earlier, Aiden winced. "You got the flobberworm detention with Grayson? He must really not like you."

"What can I say, he doesn't appreciate Uncle George's inventions." He explained, yawning.

"Right." I stood up, stretching my muscles. "I'm off to bed. I've been up late enough as it is. Night." I walked up to Aiden and gave him another hug._ I was really feeling the brotherly love today._

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't give James a goodnight kiss with Aiden being there. So I made my way towards the girl's staircases, making my way up to bed.


	27. My Brother is being Pathetic

Chilling out with your boyfriend is always a good pastime. However, when said boyfriend has started reading the books that were given to you about pregnancy, it can get a little annoying.

"It says here that you're coming to the end of the first trimester."

"Really?"

"Yeah the second trimester starts at fourteen weeks." As interesting as it was, we didn't get to spend much time together. Though it was a lot easier with Rose, Dom, and Holly knowing. James and I could spend a little time in my dormitory.

"That's good. Now can you snog me please?"

But he was more interested in the book. "What's happening this week?" He was flicking through the pages. "Found it. Week thirteen, the baby might be able to put a thumb in its mouth."

I paused from trying to get James to notice me. "Seriously?" He nodded his head. "That's just so…_Cute_."

He shook his head. "Nope. You are not allowed to call my son _cute_." He grimaced after saying it. "He will be butch, manly. Any words like that."

"Son?" He looked at me with an incredulous expression. "What makes you think it will be a boy?"

"Because."

"Because is not a reason." He grinned before flipping over onto his stomach next to me. Placing a hand onto my stomach, he said "I just know."

"Well I think it will be a girl." I tried to imagine what our child would look like. Turning back to James, I asked "Why do you want a boy?"

He though about it for a minute. "I could teach him how to play Quidditch."

"You can teach a girl how to play Quidditch."

"I can buy him really cool clothes like dragon hide boots."

You can buy a girl dragon hide boots."

He gave me a tired look, before smirking "I could teach him how to talk to girls."

I matched his smirk. "Well I could teach _her_ how to talk to boys."

James practically jumped up. "Nope. No way. No boy is going within a metre of my daughter. She cannot date. Ever. It's decided."

I snorted. "Oh god. You're turning into Jack."

James shrugged before climbing back onto the bed, and pulling me close. A comfortable silence fell around us.

"Still think it's a boy though." I nudged him as he started to laugh.

"Shut up." I then turned to try and grab his attention. To my dismay, he'd picked up the bloody book again.

"What are you reading now? I need some attention."

"Just side affects of pregnancy. Gas and bloating, swollen ankles, nausea. Well we know that one."

"I love it when you talk dirty to me."

This was getting excessive. I mean, sure I'd read some, and it's good to get prepared. But we'd been in this room for nearly an hour and a half. He'd put the book down once. Once to talk about whether it was a boy or a girl. _ONCE_.

"It also says that even the shyest of women can turn into a force to be reckoned with."

"Can't say I blame them" I mumbled.

* * *

><p>Walking to Transfiguration, Holly and I were discussing the many benefits of being pregnant.<p>

"Where's your bag?"

"Dom has got it."

"Did you do the homework?"

"Rose did it."

Holly stopped walking. Only when I realised she was no longer walking beside me, did I turn around. "You got Rose to do your homework? Rose? The girl who even refuses to look over mine because it's cheating."

"It wasn't too hard. I didn't even mean for her to do it. I just accidentally let slip how stressed all my homework was making me, and Rose snatched it out of my hands. 'Stress is not good for the baby', she said".

As we carried on walking, Holly said "Where can I get a baby?"

We made our way to our seats in the middle of the classroom. Five minutes after us, Rose, Dom and Al walked into the classroom, Dom taking the seat next to me so she could pass me my bag.

"Why did you have Amy's bag?" I felt kind of sorry for Al, being the only one in our group not in on the secret.

"She left it in the Common Room." Dom fibbed, pulling everything she'd need for the class out of her own bag.

Professor Robards walked into the room, the whole class quietened down.

"Today we will be working on Human Transfiguration. Who can tell me what that is?"

Rose's hand shot up into the air, along with a couple of Ravenclaws. Robards looked around the classroom, before saying "Miss Weasley?"

"A branch of Transfiguration where the wizard or witch casts a spell on a body part or human being to change it into another form."

"Very good, five points for Gryffindor." Rose beamed. _Teacher's pet_. "It's a complicated part of Transfiguration. All well and good if you do it successfully. But it can be disastrous if done wrong. So we'll start small. We'll be changing the colour of hair today."

People were starting to get excited. Well, Veronica and Nicole were. Probably excited that Veronica would be able to dye her hair bleach blonde, without doing it the muggle way.

"Can you do that?" Dom whispered, gesturing with her eyes to my stomach. I checked no one was looking, before nodding back.

"As long as I don't transfigure anything close to my stomach, I'm fine."

* * *

><p>Walking out of transfiguration, all five of us had succeeded in changing our hair colours. Al looked particularly funny with blonde hair and black eyebrows.<p>

"You know, one of you could change it back if you wanted to?"

I raised my eyebrows. "You really think that if I could change it back, I'd be walking around with purple hair?"

"Okay maybe not you." Al said. "But Rose and Dom have _their_ normal hair colour back."

Dom smirked as Rose giggled. "You two complain too much, you don't see Holly moaning about how she's still got green hair."

"That's because she likes it." Holly was currently twirling down the hall. She ran back to us before squealing "It's going to be the next big thing. I better make sure Speedy is in fashion."

Rose leaned in closer. "You distract Holly. I'll hide the cat. It's the least we can do for him."

"Good afternoon ladies." Jack had seen us across the hall, and walked in our direction. After a very obvious cough from Albus, Jack added "and man." He looked at me. "Sporting a new look Ames?"

"Look, for the last time, if I could change it back I would. But it's making me rather 'stressed'." I said this whole sentence to Jack, but made the last word obvious to Rose and Dom. Rose started grumbling under her breath, before changing it back straight away. I think I heard 'No fair' being one of the phrases she used.

"Thanks Rose." Al looked kind of comical stood there with his mouth open.

"You'll change _her_ hair back but not mine?" Rose shrugged before replying. "I like _her_."

Jack just stood sniggering, before realising the conversation was over. "So I need to ask you something. What do you know about Angel Turner?"

"I know she's a year younger than you." Jack leaned nonchalantly against the wall.

"So, I can still like a girl even though they're younger than me."

"Um Amy? We're going to go back to the common room." Al ran his hands through his hair, obviously a trait that both Potter boys inherited.

"Yeah sure, I'll catch you up." After the others all walked of in the direction of Gryffindor tower, I looked back to Jack.

"Like as in you want her in your bed, or like as in you want to ask her on a date?"

"They're one in the same aren't they?" Jack smirked. I looked at him in disgust.

"And you wonder why you don't like any guys I want to go out with?" The smirk slid off his face quicker than a bolt of lightning.

"Exactly. I'm a guy, and I know what most guys are after."

"A reading buddy?" I smiled as I walked off down the corridor. Jack ran to catch me up. "Haha very funny."

"Look what do you really want?"

"I _really_ wanted to ask you about Angel Turner."

"Fine then." I stopped and turned towards him. "Brunette. Sixth year. Shy Hufflepuff, a few close friends but really nice when you get to know her. Is that it?"

"Why you being so short with me?" He genuinely didn't have a clue, and was looking at me with a bemused look.

"You spoken to Aiden yet?"

A guilty look appeared on his face. "We just haven't bumped into each other."

I scoffed. "Bullshit. He told me when he does see you, you walk in the opposite direction." He looked away and carried on walking. This time it was me catching up to him.

"What is your problem? Aiden being gay isn't that big of a deal you know. How does it affect you?" He paused, and spoke without looking in my direction.

"It's just weird. He's not the same guy I grew up with anymore."

"Of course he is. He's no different, when was the last time you actually talked about his relationships."

Jack went on the defensive. "We didn't have to. He had girlfriends before…" I cut him off.

"But he wasn't happy." I tried to get it through his thick skull, but when Jack thought he was right, there was no arguing with him. "Sort it out between you two. I'm not speaking to you until you do."

"But you're speaking to me now." I glared at him, as he laughed, before turning and walking away.

"Hey Ames. AMES!"

* * *

><p>I went to sit outside on the Quidditch stands. No one was practicing. No one was anywhere near me.<p>

I didn't know what to do about my brothers. Jack being a thick headed idiot, meant for the first time since we were all at Hogwarts, we weren't speaking. I mean, I was still talking to Aiden, I was supportive. It wasn't his fault.

I saw from a distance, someone climbing up the stairs to the stands. It was only when they got closer, that I managed to see who it was. I stood up and made my way to the opposite staircase, on the other side.

"Go away, I have nothing to say to you Davies."

"Just wait a minute." He said following me as I walked down onto the pitch. "I need to speak to you."

I sped up, walking faster but he caught up to me in the middle of the pitch, grabbing my arm and spinning me around.

"Let go of me." I ripped my arm out of his grasp. "I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to waste my time listening to you."

"I'm really sorry I hurt you." I shoved him backwards, he stumbled, not expecting me to do it. "Jerk!" I shouted at him.

"As much as I didn't want to, I expected you wouldn't stay with me after Jack threatened you. But you didn't have to promise me first." I was breathing heavily at this point, and felt all the anger bubbling underneath the surface.

"I know, and I apologise, but I've been thinking."

"Better stop that, you could hurt someone again." I spat, once again turning to leave the Pitch. For the second time, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"I miss you." _And he thinks that's all it takes._

"Well good! Now you'll be miserable when I tell you you're too late, I've moved on from you."

He looked incredulous, before shaking his head and replying. "You've either got a boyfriend, you're playing hard to get, or you're just trying to convince yourself that you're not still attracted to me. But either way, we had chemistry. I really like you, and I was wrong when I said you weren't worth it."

"Leave me alone."

"I can't. I want you back."

**A/N: and ANOTHER cliffhanger.**

**To all those reading who haven't yet left a review, I'd love to know what you think.**

**To all the people who have reviewed, whether once, or every chapter, I wish good things for you...Oh and fairy cakes.**

**nmegirl**


	28. My pet is called Lewis BarneyPablo?

"You….you what?" I was shocked. As if my life wasn't confusing enough.

"I want you back" Jason repeated. "I made a mistake. I know that now."

I scoffed. _Who did he think he was?_ "Oh you _know_ that now. That's alright then, I'll just come running back to you because 'you made a mistake and you _know_ that now'. Piss off Davies." I then proceeded to run back to the castle, but not before I heard him yell, "DON'T THINK I'M GIVING UP THAT EASILY!"

_Seriously?_ Some guys can be huge bastards. He thinks because he said sorry, and that he wanted me back, I was just going to jump right back into his arms. Well he can forget that.

Halfway back to the Gryffindor tower, There was a group of young students just standing in the middle of the corridor, chatting. "Excuse me." I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and calm. After all, rudeness wouldn't get me far right? However, these people were being annoying and didn't respond. "Excuse me!" Again, no response. I guess manners aren't going to work with these people.

"Out of my way!" Okay, when I was back to normal, I'd feel bad for pushing the first year over. And making her cry. But at the moment, I was just mad.

Storming into the Common Room, I searched thoroughly for any of the girls. Which is when I noticed nearly everyone staring at me. _Talk about dramatic entrances._

"Umm…..does anyone know where Holly Winters is?" I asked sheepishly, my anger dropping down a notch. Almost as one, the majority of the room pointed over to a table by the window, where Holly was waving madly and Rose was trying not to associate herself with Holly.

The room was still staring at me, it was really uncomfortable. "Um…thanks." I walked over to their table, looking embarrassed.

"Wow Ames, you sure know how to cause a scene." Rose seemed slightly happier now that everyone had gone back to what they were doing.

"Shut up, I need someone to rant to." Rose sighed and stood up, gesturing me in the direction of the staircase. "Let's get this over with" she said.

Holly instantly jumped up. "Can I come? I'm _bored_." Nodding stiffly, I made my way up to the dorm. Once Holly had shut the door behind her and Rose, I let loose.

"JASON DAVIES IS A DICK! He's a knob and a cock! AND AN ASSHOLE!"

"Ames, I'm pretty sure most of those insults are just the same thing." Holly went quiet after I shot her one of my glares. That's right, I'm a scary pregnant woman. _Fear me._

Rose gave Holly a warning look to say 'Stop talking now', before asking "What's he gone and done now?"

"He has the nerve to say that he didn't mean to hurt me and that he wants me back." I released some of the anger I was holding back. "AFTER HE SAID I WASN'T BLOODY WORTH IT!"

"He said he wanted you back? What did you say?" Rose was a good listener, I think I'll use her in the future.

"I told him that he was too late, but I don't think he's going to leave me alone."

Holly decided to have her input in the conversation. "You could just do what I do in difficult situation." Holly's statement made me perk up. "Yeah? What would you do if you were in my position."

Holly just shrugged and said "Ignore it until it goes away."

* * *

><p>Walking to and from classes had gone from easy, to damn right difficult. Why?<p>

Jason Davies had taken to following me from lesson to lesson, trying to convince me to give him another chance.

"Is he out there?" Which meant that I was making my friends act as lookouts. A job Al was not enjoying.

"Why don't you just look yourself? He grumbled, moping after having to stay in the last class of the day, five minutes after it ended. "I'm hungry, can't we just go?"

Rose smacked him across the head, as Dom said "Davies just will NOT leave Ames alone. Yesterday, he tried to follow us into the toilets." This made Holly snort, and Rose giggle.

"There is nothing funnier than watching Jason Davies get attacked by a stampede of shrieking girls. He screams like one as well." Holly smirked. I snorted before nudging Albus. "Please have a look Al." I put on my best puppy dog face. I could see him hesitating.

"Not the puppy dog face! I won't. I…." My chin started to tremble. "Fine! Just this once."

Puppy dog face: 1, Friends: 0

Albus dragged himself across the room and peeked through the door. "Yep. Still waiting at the end of the hall."

As we all groaned, Holly said "Man, that guy has patience." Trying to think of a plan, all of us had gone quiet, except for Albus who said "Now can we go?"

"NO!" Al instantly shrank back away from all of us yelling. "Alright, just asking."

"I got it!" Dom got really excited, jumping up and down. She then turned to Al. "You need to leave the room, walk towards Davies, and tell him that Amy left ages ago. Then you can go down to dinner and we'll meet you there."

"If I do this, I can go to dinner?" He looked hopeful as we all nodded. "Okay, I'll do it." He moved quickly over to the door, and walked through. We all lined up next to the door, and looked through the gap.

Al was walking over to Davies. "Hey mate, Amy left a while back. She's probably gone back to the tower or something."

He shook his head. "I got here before lessons finished. She hasn't come out yet. I was here at the start of lessons too, and I watched her go in."

_Does anyone else think that is really weird?_

"I thought I was joking when I called him a stalker." Rose mumbled quietly.

Albus was just standing there. "Right. Well, I'm going to dinner." He then passed Davies as he made his way to the Great Hall.

"Well that worked Dom." I said flatly, as Dom whispered "Traitor."

Rose then stated what everyone was thinking. "What do we do now?" Silence. Great.

Before long however, Holly was smiling. "You know how he ran away from the screaming girls in the toilet?" I was confused at what she was planning, however Rose and Dom's faces lit up.

Next thing I knew, Holly and Dom had pushed the door open all the way, and sprinted up to him screaming their heads off and shouting profanities. For the second time this week, Jason shrieked like a girl and ran off in the direction of the moving staircase.

I could _actually_ make a hobby of watching Jason scream like a girl. It's hilarious.

After Davies and both Holly and Dom had disappeared out of view, Rose dragged me out of the room and in the opposite direction.

"Piece of cake." Rose was smiling. "I think Holly should come up with more plans like this." We both made our way through the secret passageway that would take us from the Seventh floor, to the fourth.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Rose decided to break it.

"You're going to have to have a word with him. We can't do this every time we need to leave a room." I sighed. I knew she was right. Thing is, I didn't want to speak to the jerk.

"I know. But not right now." As we exited the passageway, we headed to the stairs down to the Great Hall. While we were walking down them, Scorpius Malfoy was walking in the opposite direction. And then a lot happened within seconds.

Malfoy nodded. Rose smiled. Malfoy winked. Rose blushed.

_I think someone's got a crush._

"Oh my god." I pulled Rose into an alcove, after he'd walked out of sight. "You like Malfoy."

"No I don't." She held her head higher and strutted off. I ran after her.

"You do. Anyone with eyes would have seen the silent conversation you both just had." I smirked. "Besides you have a tell when you lie."

She looked horrified. "I do not." I laughed as she blushed. I was enjoying this.

"So. A Weasley and a Malfoy. Family dinners are going to be _awkward_." Rose groaned. "Your family is not going to like it."

She went on the defensive, almost making me regret teasing her. "So what? I don't care what they think. I can…..date who I want to date. They don't get a say!"

"You say that," I tried to support her, but it was hard if she wasn't being truthful with herself. "But I know how important family is to you Weasleys. Plus I wasn't lying about that tell."

She visibly slumped. "I'm in a mess aren't I?"

"You and me both."

* * *

><p>"Albus you git!" This was followed by a sharp whack to the back of his head by Rose.<p>

"Ow, what was that for?" This was said while Al was eating, so the wonderful view of half masticated food made my stomach squirm. _Welcome back, morning sickness. I missed you_. Not.

"For walking off, when the plan failed!"

"Well, you said it yourself, the plan _failed_. And besides, Dom said I could go to dinner if I said what she told me to say." He turned to me, trying to look for backup. "You don't hold it against me do you?"

I smiled at him. Before whacking him across the back of the head as well.

"OW! Will everyone please stop hitting me!" We all chuckled, and sat down around him. Looking around, I noticed that both the other Potters were within hearing distance, James slightly further away.

"Hey Mini Potter." Lily turned to me with an exasperated look on her face.

"Must you call me that? I do have a real name you know." I smiled as I reached over for the jar of peanut butter.

"Yeah, but I like nicknames. I think they're cute."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "So you have nicknames for everyone else as well?"

I snorted. "Of course. Rose is…..well Rose. There are no nicknames really." Dom shook her head and poked Rose on the arm as she said "Actually there is. 'Rosie'."

Rose glared at Dom. "Which 'Rosie' _hates_."

I laughed, forgetting what we were talking about. "What was I saying? Oh yeah, nicknames. And Dom is 'Dommykins'."

Dom let her head fall down onto the table. "Oh God. I thought we were past that. It's so embarrassing." She lifted her head just enough to send me a pleading look, but when I just smirked, she let her head fall down again.

"Shouldn't have let me read a letter from your dad in first year then should you? Finally Holly is just known as 'crazy lady'."

Lily spat out the pumpkin juice she was drinking mid laugh. After apologising to the younger boy she had showered with juice, she turned back. "Crazy lady? Well at least I can see where you got that from."

"Tell me about it. She is going to corrupt LBP." I spooned in some peanut butter on its own.

"Um Ames?" Al looked bemused. "Who's LBP?"

_Well done Amy. Foot. In. Mouth._

"It's….my cat."

The group surrounding me were looking at each other in a confused manner. Jack, who was sat by James, looked around at everyone's expressions. "I'll take this one." he said. "Ames, you don't have a cat."

"Yes I do." _Very convincing_. "It's a kitten, and it's living with our cousin Elena."

I need to go to lying classes. A.S.A.P.

Luckily for me however, Jack seemed to buy it. "Okay then. So what does LBP stand for?"

_Think, Amy, think. Just say anything._ "Lewis Barney…Pablo." Pablo? PABLO? I shock even myself.

Holly piped up then. "Why those names?" Okay, I think they are all trying to ruin me. I don't know how long I can keep this up.

"Well, Lewis is the name of my grandfather." I looked in the direction of Jack to confirm, seeing him nod. "Barney…is the name of my favourite dinosaur." This is just getting embarrassing now.

Sean, being pureblood, looked especially confused at what I said. "A dinosaur called Barney?"

Just to make this worse, I decided to add "He's purple." Sean gaped for a bit, before shaking his head and mumbling "I am not getting into this."

James, who was sat with an amused look on his face added "And, Pablo?"

I stood up quickly, shocking everyone. "I don't know! I like the name!" I moved away from the table. "I'm going to bed."

"Wait for me, I'll come with you." Holly stood up, linked arms with me, and pulled me along next to her. "When is LBP coming to Hogwarts? Him and Speedy can be best friends! They can share clothes, and go shopping together."

"You do know they're cats right?"

* * *

><p>Getting ready for bed three hours later, after just hanging around the dorm with Holly, there came a knock on the door. Rose and Dom had since come up to the room, so it couldn't be them.<p>

"Can one of you get that? I'm brushing my teeth." said Rose. Dom had fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, and Holly was doing some sort of part yoga part praying exercise she thought looked fun.

"Guess it's me then" I whispered under my breath. Opening the door, I found an open box on the floor, containing a note, and small kitten with black fur. Picking up the note first, I opened it up and started to read.

_Amy,_

_Thought that if a cat was your alibi, you at least needed evidence._

_Take care of him._

_- J_

_P.S. I've already named him. Check the collar._

He was adorable.

Picking him up, the kitten let out a soft miaow, before he started to purr. I turned the tag over to find it was engraved on both sides. On one side of the tag, there was a picture of a lightning bolt. On the other, were three letters.

**_LBP_**

Smiling, I turned and carried my new kitten into my dorm.


	29. My Stomach is Showing

"Oh. My. God"

There was a downside to keeping this a secret. And that was that no matter how much I would deny it, there was always evidence that I was pregnant.

For example, a pregnant belly would not work in my favour.

"Can you all see that?" I was currently standing in front of the mirror, with my top lifted up to expose my stomach. "_That_ is a bump."

All the girls came rushing over to get a look. Dom raised one of her eyebrows in confusion, Holly was squinting and Rose said "Are we meant to be looking at something?"

"Yes!" I said exasperated. "My jeans wouldn't do up today. And this is the reason. My stomach is growing."

"I really can't see anything." Rose walked back over to her bed, picking up a book. "Call me when there is actually something there." How dare she? This is a big deal.

"You may be blind as bat, but Holly and Dom can see it." I looked over to them, who were still looking at me in confusion. "Right?"

Dom sighed. "She does have a point. You don't look any different." She then proceeded to go back to her wardrobe, and sort through clothes. I looked to Holly, the last of my hope clinging on. She shook her head, and I slumped. _Was I imagining things?_

I examined my stomach again. Standing in the jeans I had mentioned earlier, I tried to pull the zip up. It still wouldn't budge. The only thing different I could see was a slight curve to my stomach, that hadn't been there before. But was it really there?

"I know!" I ran to my trunk and started searching through it. Holly was sat on my bed stroking LBP. I couldn't control her if she wanted to ruin the life of her own cat, but if she even brought a cat sized bonnet near to mine, she'd regret it.

Wading through the clothes, I finally found what I was looking for. "Found it." Picking up the packet with the invisibump pants in, I walked to the bathroom to put them on.

After slipping them on, I decided they were really comfy. Looking at the packet I'd realised I'd picked up the packet which halved the size of any bump, and could be worn for twelve hours. I went back out into the dorm and pulled the jeans on.

_Moment of truth_. I reached for the zip, and pulled.

Straight up. No problems. Dom looked over impressed. "How'd you get the jeans to do up?"

"I put on a pair of the Invisibump pants. So there _must_ be something there." I turned in the mirror, and noticed the slight curve had disappeared.

Rose glanced up from her book. "Nothing that we can actually see though. How long can you wear them for?"

"Twelve hours until" I picked up the packet and read the back. "aching, aggravation and irritation sets in."

"You can wear it today then. It's the weekend, so I need to go to the library, and you're coming with me." Holly stood up from my bed went to get something form hers.

I groaned. "Do I have to?" Rose smirked and nodded. "If you want me to do some of your homework, you have to at least come to the library and revise. I can't sit your tests in class for you."

"Alright." As I stood up, I saw Holly approach my cat. "Put the cat clothes down, and step away from the kitten."

She froze when she realised I'd seen her. "But he'll look sweet."

I stood, picked up LBP and walked towards the door. "Let's go to the library now, before I change my mind." As Rose put her book down, and grabbed her schoolbag, I turned to Holly and said "You are mad if you think I'm leaving you and LBP alone together. He'll be scarred for life."

* * *

><p>Sat in the corner of the library, Rose was quizzing me on all things magical.<p>

"What potion gives off a faint blue smoke, and adding sugar renders it useless?"

I knew this one. "Wolfsbane potion." Rose nodded, before looking for another question. "Another name for Wolfsbane?"

"Aconite."

She smiled. "Correct." I yawned, revision had this affect on me.

"Do we really have to learn this? This was all mentioned in first year, I don't think they're going to bring it up again." If I had to revise, I'd rather revise something useful.

"You never know, it's best to be prepared." She must've been a boy scout in a past life. Rose stood and made to move off the table.

"Where you going? Can we leave?"

Rose snorted. "I'm just going to get more books." She then disappeared around the edge of one of the bookcases. So I was left sitting at the table, looking out of my depth. Great.

I could see all across the library from where I was sitting, but my table was hidden in the shadows of a particularly high bookshelf. So I was one of the first to see James walk into the room. And the reactions of the girls.

I knew that he was _popular with the ladies_, but this was weird. They actually stopped what they were doing to gawp at him. One girl fainted as he walked past her. A bit overdramatic but I can't exactly judge.

Rose made me jump as she dropped the pile of books she'd collected onto the table. "That's a lot of books Rose."

"No it's not. This was all I could carry. Now shush." She then buried herself into the first book that was called 'Could it be magic?'.

"Hey." James had decided to come sit at our table. And everyone was looking.

"James? What are you doing here?" His appearance had grabbed Rose's attention too. To her disgust, he ruffled her hair.

"Aren't I allowed to come visit my favourite cousin?" He followed this with another ruffle of the hair.

"Do that one more time, and you will lose that hand!" Obviously Rose was very protective of her hair, but her reaction was funny enough.

I turned to James. "Aren't we meant to be a secret?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Anyone looking will just think I've come to see Rose. She _is_ family, so she has uses." Rose did not look happy with this, and looked affronted.

"If you are just going to insult me, I'm going back to my book." All the faces in the room had started to turn away.

James started to pull out parchment and ink out of his bag. "I just thought you should know, that your attractiveness has gone down since I now know you come in the library." I said.

"Really?" James looked like he was trying to hold in laughter. "And there was me thinking that girls liked looks, personality _and_ intelligence." He concentrated on writing the title of his assignment. Once he had finished, he looked back up at me. "Anyway, you're in here."

Touché Mr Potter.

"I'll forget you were in here, if you forget I was."

He smirked. "You've got yourself a deal. So either of you got any new drama in your lives?"

Besides Rose fancying the family enemy, and me getting fat?

"Now that you mention it, this" I held up my little Black kitten, "is LBP. He came to Hogwarts. I guess my cousin Elena dropped him off." I gave him a pointed look, to which he had an innocent expression on his face.

"You've got a really nice cousin. I think you should reward this cousin of yours." Two can play at this game.

"But my cousin did it out of the kindness of their heart." Rose just huffed angrily. She did not look pleased.

"Will you both just shut up! This is a _library_. And you can both stop acting like this cat came from a cousin. I found the note you bloody signed James." Rose went back to reading, leaving me and James just to stare at her.

_Well we got told._

"Hey James. What are you doing sitting here?"

Turning around, all three of us saw Jack standing behind us, with a look of disbelief on his face. James, however, managed to keep his cool, and replied "Needed to get work done. It was either sitting with my cousin, sitting on my own, or sitting with a bunch of fan girls. You wouldn't wish that fate on me right?"

Jack let out a loud laugh. "I wouldn't wish that on my enemy." He then moved to sit opposite James, next to me.

Standing up, I said "Right, I'm off." Rose seemed surprising co-operative, and stood to come with me.

Jack frowned. "Where you going, Ames?" I looked at him in incredulity. "Have you talked to Aiden yet?"

Jack instantly looked guilty. "Not yet, no." I carried on gathering my stuff together. After I'd finished, I turned back to him "Then I'm still not talking to you."

"But you talked to me yesterday?"

I sighed, picking up LBP. "That wasn't a conversation. That was an interrogation." Walking away, I didn't once look back, but I could feel Rose following me out the room.

"Why are you so happy to be leaving the library Rose?"

"Are you kidding? I'm not going to get any work done with them there."

* * *

><p>Waiting on your date is normally a boring chore. However, waiting for your date in the room of requirement, not so much.<p>

"I'd like a slide please."

Popping up in the corner of my eye, I turned to see a bright red slide appear on the left of the door. Giggling, like the child I am inside, I ran up the steps and squealed as I slid down. After a couple of minutes of it, I got bored.

"What shall I have now?" I asked myself out loud.

"How about a fireplace?"

Jumping due to the voice that appeared out of nowhere, I span around to see a fireplace appear to the right of James, who seemed to find my childish antics hilarious.

"I hope you're not laughing at me." I scolded. "I don't exactly have much time to be irresponsible."

The smile on his face instantly disappeared. "I'm sorry." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards a sofa that popped out of nowhere. "So I wanted to meet you for a reason."

"And I though you just liked to spend quality time with me." I snuggled closer, when he put an arm around my shoulders.

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah."

I looked up, when I heard the hesitation in his face. "Oh god, you're no breaking up with me are you?" His face showed the surprise he felt when I said this, and quite literally yelled "NO!" in my face. Sweet.

"It's nothing like that. I was just thinking…." Trying to phrase his next sentence, he paused slightly. "Maybe we could tell Jack."

"WHAT!" James winced as I screamed in his ear. "You want to tell Jack that you got me pregnant, and then continued to see me behind his back?"

"We don't have to tell him we're having a baby _just_ yet. I was wondering maybe we could say that we were going out. Not behind his back, but that we'd just started."

I scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"Well, why not?"

"Because.." I reasoned. "When he finds out that you like me and that you're my boyfriend he'll beat you up. _Then_, when he realises that it's been going on longer than he thought, he'll kill you. Finally, when I tell him I'm pregnant, he'll resurrect you just to murder you in a more painful way. Comprende?"

"I can handle him if he doesn't like the idea of his sister being with his mate."

"Do you remember Jonathan Andrews last year? Ended up in the hospital wing, because Jack made every one of the school broomsticks attack him. I hear he still has nightmares about it." He just shrugged.

"Like I said, I can handle it."

I stared in confusion. "And when he realises I'm up the duff? How are you going to handle _that_?"

He turned, sat forward and stared into the fire. It was a while before he answered back. "I'll take what I deserve."

"You are mental. Most guys would be running away from this problem." He shook his head, and smiled. Leaning back once more, he said "You are not a problem. I mean, it hasn't exactly been easy, but it's worth it. _You_, are worth fighting for."

Uncontrollable heart beat. Check.

Internal sighing. Check.

Falling just a little bit. Check.

"Will you accept if I consider it?" James kissed my cheek, before resting his chin on my head. I could feel the atmosphere take a chill pill.

Looking down at me, he answered "That's all I ask."

**A/N: So this was slightly filler, as well as involving some progress in the pregnancy. My sister spent a couple of weeks talking about the bump she had that we weren't actually able to see. But I hear it's normal for the mum to be to see it first.**

**I decided to be nice and give you a small sneak peek at the next chapter.**

_"What?"_

_"I said I'm pre….."_

_"I heard what you said, I was just wondering WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE DOING?"_

_I was shaking hard. I didn't expect this reaction from him. How did I respond? "I…"_

_"You can't have a baby! You're bloody sixteen years old. You wouldn't be able to handle it, you'd be a terrible mum!"_

_The last five words brought up all the insecurities I'd ever had about whether I'd be able to do it. But nothing stung more than hearing the words I feared coming out of _his_ mouth._

**Duh duh duh. Somebody finds out and they don't like it. Apart from a glare from the welcome witch at St Mungo's, she hasn't had any bad reactions. Yet.**

**Thank you for reading,**

**nmegirl**


	30. My Decisions are Shaky

Charms was a great time to chat. Mainly because Professor Flitwick was so busy controlling all the students who were conjuring birds to appear out of thin air.

"So James asked you about telling Jack you two are going out?" Rose asked, surrounded by her own flock of yellow birds.

"Yeah. I told him I'd think about it." I frowned, watching her birds fly round in circles. It was making me feel quite dizzy. "I'm right to be hesitant yeah?"

"Definitely. Although he can be annoying at times, I am rather fond of James. He's one of my favourite cousins."

In this class, we'd been divided into pairs, with four on each table. Hence the reason we were talking so openly. Al was sitting right across the room next to Florence Haines, whereas Dom and Holly were sitting opposite us.

"I know a way of telling him quickly." Holly added. "Write on a Quaffle 'James and Amy are dating', then chuck it really hard at his head and run away."

I looked strangely at Holly, as Dom looked baffled. "Umm.. good plan Holly, except I'm pretty sure Jack would be knocked out if I threw something heavy hard in his face." I sighed. "There's really no way that we can do it without James getting punched, is there?" The others all shook there heads.

"Stop the chit chat girls." Flitwick walked up to our table. Seeing Rose's birds flying around, Flitwick squeaked "Congratulations Miss Weasley. Ten points for Gryffindor! Now let's see you girls try."

Dom, Holly and I all looked uneasy as we lifted up our wands. At the same time, we all said "Avis". Nothing happened for Dom, a solitary feather flew out of my wand before floating down onto the table and Holly caused an explosion in Flitwick's face. After all the smoke cleared in the air, and we could see Flitwick's face covered in soot, he said "I think practice is in order for you three."

We all grinned sheepishly.

* * *

><p>It was nearly Christmas holidays, which meant either signing the list to stay in Hogwarts, or the one to go home.<p>

"So is everyone going home?" I asked, as we reached the hall with the two queues. When everyone nodded, we all made our way towards the longer one.

"Of course we're going home." Al said, gesturing to Dom and Rose as well. "There will never be a year where Potter's and Weasley's don't go home for Christmas. Tradition you see."

Holly looked thoughtful. "I've always wanted to see what a Potter/Weasley Christmas was like." Rose snorted, Al grinned. Dom just sighed as she said "Eventful, I can tell you. Pranks, Arguments, lots of noise. You name it, we do it."

As we all laughed, we moved forward in the queue. "What are you two doing?" Rose asked.

"Just a small family Christmas for the Swann's." I told them, looking towards the front to see how long we would have to wait. "We don't do much. Just a couple of presents, a small dinner and a tree. That's how we celebrate."

Holly smiled at the idea. "We have a huge family ball. My uncle and Aunt are rich muggles, who like to show off at big events. My parents go because they think it's polite. I go for the free food, and the expensive gifts they get me." She smirked.

"Holly!" Dom shouted, as the rest fell about laughing. Soon enough, we were signing our names on the list to go home, before making our way into the Great Hall for breakfast.

The owls came flying in with post, after we'd served ourselves. Dropping letters in front of all the Weasley's and Potter's as usual, there was the addition of one in front of me for a change. Feeding some bacon to mum's owl as a thank you, I opened up my letter and began reading.

_Amy,_

_I'm really sorry I haven't written before this point, but I've been so busy with the second job, and I've only just managed to get around to it._

_How is school? I haven't received any mail from you so far and I'm starting to get worried. Usually, you'll write even if I'm not able to just to keep me updated._

_I hope your brothers are behaving, I've sent them letters as well. I've only received three letters since the start of the year about Jack's detentions. I'm impressed._

_If you're worrying about something, you know you don't have to hesitate to tell me. I love you so much, and if the reason you haven't written is because school's hard or there's a lot of drama, I'd be happy to listen to your ranting._

_Write back A.S.A.P._

_Mum xx_

I felt a tear start to form in the corner of my eye. Mum had been there for me at every difficult decision I had had to face, guided me in the right direction and looked after me for so long. It killed me to think that I wasn't able to go to her for advice on what to do this time, to hear stories of when she was worried about becoming a mother and to let her help me through it. I felt I was letting her down.

Wiping away the tear, I turned to my friends. "I'm going to write back to my mum." They all nodded in my direction, and I left for the owlery.

* * *

><p><em>Mum,<em>

_I am sooooo sorry I haven't written as well. I didn't realise NEWT's were going to be quite so hard, and have spent all my free time revising._

I looked up from the parchment I was writing on, internally kicking myself for lying to my mother. Realising I was about to tell a bigger lie, I frowned when I turned back to the letter.

_There are no problems that I'm worried about. If anything, apart from the hard work, I'm having a great time. Holly, Dom, Rose and Al all say hello, and I miss you so much._

Hormones amplified my emotions, so I sniffed trying to stop the dam from bursting and releasing the tears. I really needed to see her again, so I was glad Christmas was only around the corner.

_Can't wait to be back home, and give you a massive hug._

_I love you loads_

_Amy xx_

_P.S. Both boys are doing fine, if being slightly too overprotective._

Tying the letter to a random school owl, I watched it fly out of sight before leaning back and sliding down a wall.

"You writing to mum as well?"

Aiden was leaning against the doorway, and as I smiled, he stood straight and walked over to me. I nodded as he walked over to another school owl to send his own letter.

"Jack took Missy to send his letter." He continued. "I feel guilty for not keeping in touch with her as often this year."

"Me too." He came over and sat next to me on the floor. I turned towards him. "Did you…tell mum…."

He knew instantly what I was talking about. "No, it's not the kind of thing you can just write in a letter. I think I'm going to tell her during the holidays."

"Has Jack talked to you?"

He smiled slightly. "He's making the effort. He came over to my table, during a free, to ask what I was doing. I think he's trying."

I smiled back at him. "I'm glad. I'm glad everything's going better with Jack, and I'm glad you felt you could tell us your secret."

"Hey, the same for you. I'll listen whenever you're ready to tell me yours. It can't be as bad as mine right?"

I looked at the opposite wall, away from Aiden's gaze. Sensing a change in the atmosphere, he repeated "Right?"

"If I tell you, you won't tell Jack? I think you're the only family member I _can_ tell."

He stood up and leaned against the opposite wall. "You can tell me anything."

"Okay. Here goes." I took a deep breath in, feeling more confident than the last time I'd told someone.

"I'm pregnant."

At first there was no movement. Then his jaw tightened, his eyes hardened, and he turned to face the brick wall.

Fear instantly shot up my spine. "Aiden?"

"What?"

"I said I'm pre…"

"I heard what you said, I was just wondering WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE DOING?"

I was shaking hard. I didn't expect this reaction from him. How did I respond? "I…"

"You can't have a baby! You're bloody sixteen years old. You wouldn't be able to handle it, you'd be a terrible mother!"

The last five words brought up all the insecurities I'd ever had about whether I'd be able to do it. But nothing stung more than hearing the words I feared coming out of _his_ mouth.

"I thought you'd understand." I was sobbing loudly. Aiden wasn't looking me in the eye, and was avoiding any contact with me. "Or at least accept it. I was there for you, all I'm asking is that you don't judge me for it."

"BUT I AM JUDGING YOU! God Ames, how could you let this happen?" I wrapped my arms around myself, unconsciously protecting my self from his onslaught. "Jack is _actually_ going to kill you, no wonder you didn't want to tell him. Did you even think about Mum?"

I felt ashamed. I'd let a lot of people down because of my decisions.

"I know I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm doing my best. I have a plan. Mum won't have to do anything.."

"You getting an abortion?"

We'd been getting along so well lately, I had never thought Aiden would have said anything like that. "No I am not! Never even crossed my mind!" I glared at him coldly, tears still pouring out of my eyes.

"Well you can't bring the baby up, you'll ruin it's life. And it will ruin yours. You'll have no job, no money and you'll regret it."

I stared at him in shock. "I can't believe you." Standing up from the floor, I sobbed "Of all people, I thought you would understand." I then proceeded to run off towards Gryffindor tower.

What if I really was a terrible mother? I'd raise the child to be the next dark wizard, and the whole of the wizarding world would hate me for producing evil spawn. I had no job, and no money anyway. How would I manage to feed or clothe the baby? How would I teach the baby important life lessons that I didn't even know myself?

Minutes after leaving the Owlery, I arrived at my dormitory.

I couldn't do it. It was impossible. Aiden was right, I was ruining everyone's life. I remembered all the talks that me and James had had about life after the birth. I was stopping James from taking the job he deserved. I was stopping him from living his _own_ life.

And there was no way I would be able to get a good job after this. With no NEWT's, I'd have a harder time. I could always get a job as a receptionist, like Marie, but that wouldn't pay for everything the baby needed.

Marie had her parent's to help with the money side of things. I just icouldn't/i ask mine. My dad had ran off years ago, probably had another family to support now, and Mum had too much pressure as it was to feed and support three children on two jobs.

I _would_ ruin the child's life. The baby deserved to live in a household that could provide for him or her. Where it would be cared for well, even spoilt.

And within seconds of analysing everything, and an opinion of someone I cared about, I had decided on something.

I was going to at least find out _some_ information on adoption.


	31. My Arguments are Weak

I was sat on my bed, reading the number of leaflets that I had sent off for.

'_Giving your child a happy family'_

_'Choosing the right parents'_

_'Adoption: Is it for you?'_

The whole topic was so confusing for me. There were so many things to consider before even making a decision. Plus I needed to be absolutely sure that I was prepared to give the baby up. Even though I knew it was probably the right thing to do, it would most likely be one of the hardest decisions of my life.

Open Adoption? Or closed adoption? Do I want to know who is going to be bringing up my child?

With an open adoption, I'd know who exactly was going to be adopting him or her. I would be able to choose them, so I'd know that the baby was going to a good family. But I might see them somewhere in a few years, and know the child with them was mine.

The door opened as Holly walked in.

"What you doing?"

I sighed. "Trying to make a very hard decision." Flipping through the leaflets once more, I threw them down on my bed in bewilderment.

"Deciding whether to get out of bed this morning?" Holly skipped to her own bed. "Don't worry, if I was you, I would as well. Pregnant, going to get fat in a couple of weeks, don't blame you."

"NO THAT IS NOT WHAT I'M DECIDING!" I gave her a look of annoyance. "Though now that's what I'm thinking."

Holly just shrugged, falling back onto her mattress. "Sorry. What are you deciding then?" I threw one of the leaflets at her, which she picked up and looked at.

"_'Pros and Cons of Adoption'_" She read, before turning to me. "You're giving up the baby?"

I hesitated. "Maybe. I want to give the baby the best start in life. I'm just looking into adoption, it helps to know all my options."

"But you've completely written off abortion." Holly replied.

"I know, but that's my choice."

* * *

><p>I had decided to skive off lessons all day, which meant that Dom and Rose kept walking into the room to see what was wrong after every lesson.<p>

"Are you going to tell us why you're not coming to Transfiguration in five minutes?" Rose huffed. She'd lost her patience after I refused to go the Herbology this morning.

"Look I just don't feel well."

"You look fine to me." Rose spat, before storming off to class.

I just sat on my bed gaping, until Dom took pity on me. "Just ignore her, she's been like this all day." When Dom reached the door, she span back around. "I hope you feel better." She then proceeded to walk out the room.

I pulled all the leaflets back out from under my pillow. As I started to read them, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering occasionally. What was wrong with Rose? Was it something to do with _me_?

"Hey you okay?"

Shoving the leaflets back under my pillow so fast, I think I got whiplash, I turned to see James standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?"

He walked over and sat next to me on my bed. "I had Herbology second lesson today, and Neville mentioned that you weren't in his first class. So I came to check on you."

"Aren't you meant to be in Potions right now?" I asked curiously.

James smirked. "Yeah. Aren't you meant to be in Transfiguration right now?"

"Touché."

As we laughed together, his eyes moved from mine to something behind me. "What's that?" I looked behind to see a bright red leaflet lying next to my pillow. One I hadn't quite pushed under. Both of us reached for it at the same time, but unfortunately, James was quicker.

My heart started to hammer in my chest as he started reading. His face changed first from a smile to a frown, before turning angry.

I waited for him to finish. When he had, he looked up at me.

"What is this?"

I was speechless. I hadn't wanted him to know I was even considering it until I'd made a decision. However my silence was making his anger worse.

"What _is_ this Amy?"

"I…" My heart beat sped up. "I just wanted to look into it. See all my options."

His jaw tightened. "Did you get leaflets on abortion as well?" I hesitated, before shaking my head. "So you decided to get more information on the option I had a problem with, rather than the one you were totally against."

"I can see why you're angry, but it is my decision."

_Wrong thing to say you dumbass._

Instantly his face went scarlet, and his eyes turned cold. "Your decision? Who am I? The next door neighbour? I get a say too! It's my baby as well!"

"I know it is! But I will be a terrible mother if I keep this baby!"

The cold look in his eye slightly softened. "No you wouldn't, you'd be a great mum. Where is this coming from? You were so excited a couple of days ago."

"That was before….." I cut myself off as James looked curious. "That was before I realised what a bad life I would give this baby. If I let another family adopt him or her, they could provide better than me, and you can have your life back."

The hard look in his eyes returned immediately, and he said "Did you not listen to a word I said when I told you about Teddy? If you're so certain about adoption….."

"I haven't decided yet I was just looking into it!"

"Let me finish." He sent me a firm look, so I quietened down. "If you're so certain about adoption, then I get to have my say. If you decide that you don't want to raise this baby, then I will. I may have been worried at the beginning, but I want this baby. I'm _ready_ for this baby, and if that means that I have to choose between him and you because you don't want to be in his life, then so be it."

I stood still as he finished his speech. "I haven't even decided yet."

He gave me a stiff nod. "Let me know when you do." He turned around and walked out the dorm, leaving me with one of the hardest decisions so far in my life.

* * *

><p>"And then he left?"<p>

I'd just finished telling Holly about everything that had happened. We were sat alone on the train to go home, as Rose and Albus were in the prefect's compartment, and Dom had gone to see if her brother, Louis, was okay.

I sighed. "And then he left. I've never seen him so angry."

Holly whistled. "You're never low on drama, are you?" I think she'd tried to make me laugh, but I wasn't in the mood.

The silence that settled was an uncomfortable one, and so Holly decided to go find the food trolley.

Sat on my own, staring out the window, was actually the highlight of my week. It had been seven days since James issued me the ultimatum. And I still didn't know what to do. I turned to look at the corridor, through the glass window. Groups of students ran past, some giggling, some chatting amicably. I would kill for my life to be as simple as most of theirs right now. Deciding which guy was hot this week, or whether to buy a particularly gorgeous pair of shoes.

As I was stroking my cat, a small red head walked past my compartment, looking in. When Lily saw me, she opened the door and popped her head through.

"Are you okay? How come you're sitting on your own?"

A normal response would be to tell her where everyone was, that they'd be coming back soon and thank her for asking. Maybe I'd put an 'I'm fine' somewhere in there.

Did I do that? No. I decided to cry instead.

With all my problems building up on top of me, two brothers who I wasn't talking to, and the indecision I was facing, it would be weird if I wasn't able to cry right now.

_I'm sure the hormones helped it along a bit as well._

Lily's reaction shocked me. Every time I'd cried so far this year, it was followed by someone who saw me trying to get out of comforting me. But Lily walked straight over, dropped down onto the seat next to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. A fourteen year old girl, was comforting a sixteen year old one.

"Shhhh" She soothed, as I continued to sob into her shoulder. After five minutes of this, I managed to pull myself together a bit.

"I'm s..s..sorry." I sniffed. She let out a small chuckle, before smiling at me.

"It's okay." Lily said. "Everyone needs to cry some time or other."

"It's been happening a lot lately." I mumbled, quiet enough for her not to hear me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She said kindly. I started to shake my head, but thought about telling her one or two details.

"My brothers are complete gits." I whispered. She nodded sympathetically.

"My brothers can be that way sometimes. The only thing that stops me from punching their lights out is the fact that I know that they love me, and that they're just trying to look out for me."

"None of us are talking." I confessed. "Aiden told us something, which made Jack not want to talk to Aiden. That made me tell Jack that I wouldn't talk to him until he talked to Aiden. I then told Aiden something, which made him say something horrible, which means I'm not talking to him. Aiden's probably going to tell Jack." I let my head fall into my hands, as the tears started again.

"That's really confusing." Lily laughed. I snorted, being able to find slight humour in the situation.

"Thanks for listening to it." I said sincerely. She gave me a warm smile before replying "If you ever need to talk again, just come find me. Don't bottle it all up." She stood, and with one last smile, left the compartment.

Lily was a godsend. The Potter's must have done something well if they managed to bring up three good children. But I may be a bit biased. Seeing as I'm best friends with one, and my boyfriend is the other. _If he's still my boyfriend that is._ I slumped in my chair, sadness creeping back up me.

The door opened all the way, and Rose and Dom walked in, dragging Holly with them.

"Look who we found down by the food trolley." Holly looked a bit guilty, arms full of wizarding candy and chocolate all over her face.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Why so much Hols?" She looked as innocent as she could manage.

"It's not my fault. The trolley lady made me do it I swear! She kept forcing me to buy it all!"

Dom laughed loudly. "Yeah, 'Would you like something deary?' is really forcing you."

Rose sat down opposite me and stared out at the moving landscapes. She looked how I felt. Looking in Holly's direction, I grabbed her attention. When she was finally looking, I gestured for her to take Dom out of the compartment. After three terrible tries, Holly shouted out "What's the matter Ames? Why do you keep pointing and winking at me?"

_Face, meet palm._

"I'm not." Good reply. "Holly will you get me a pumpkin pasty from the trolley?" I made one final attempt at gesturing.

"OH!" She composed herself. "Why yes Amy, I shall indeed go and get you a pumpkin pasty. Maybe Dom would like to accompany me."

Holly was never discreet when it comes to these kind of things.

Dom looked confused. "No thanks, I'll stay here."

"GET UP!" Holly shouted at her, followed by Dom springing up and staring bemused at her. "I don't get it." Dom said. "Why don't you give her one of the two pumpkin pasties you just bought?"

Holly looked down to the pile of food, before grabbing them both and shoving them in her mouth. _Well played, Hols_. I thought sarcastically.

After a couple minutes of watching her almost choke on them, she swallowed the last piece. "All gone." She smiled. "Now can we go?"

Shaking her head, Dom walked out saying over her shoulder "What is the matter with you?" Holly gave us the thumbs up, before following her out.

"Alright, what's wrong with you?"

Rose turned away from the window and glared at me. "I just 'don't feel too well'."

"Why are you so touchy?" I said, keeping my cool. Rose broke eye contact, and looked out the window once more.

"Scorpius asked me out."

I squealed and stood up. "Well, that's good isn't it? So what's wrong?"

"I said no." I stopped jumping up and down on the spot. "you did?" Rose nodded. "But why?"

"I can't go out with him. Our families would never approve. Besides, I'm a Weasley, he's a Malfoy. It'll never work out."

I gawped. "You can't say that without trying first. You don't even have to make it public to begin with. He obviously likes you, and you like him."

"What's the point in giving it a go, if I know it's going to fall apart as soon as our families meet?" I gave her a sympathetic look.

"Take it a step at a time."

"So you think I should of said yes?" She looked hopeful that at least someone would accept the relationship.

I nodded and smiled. "Yes. I do."

Our friendship moment was ruined as the compartment door slammed open and Dom said "Holly, for the last time, she only wanted one! Why did you buy a bloody dozen?"

Ignoring the arguing pair, Rose smiled, stood up and said "I have to go do something."

As Rose slid out of the compartment, Albus walked in.

"Where is she going?" He pointed in the direction that Rose left in. "And why are those two arguing?"

I leaned back in my seat. "You don't want to know." He glanced back to Dom and Holly before saying "Which one don't I want to know?"

"Both."

**A/N: There you have it. The first obstacle in James and Amy's way. Please don't hurt me.**

**If you don't hurt me, I'll give you a preview of the next chapter.**

_"You three haven't spoken to each other since I picked you up from the train." Mum said. None of us made eye contact with the other. "What is going on with you all?"_

_Jack stood up. "I'm going to my room." He then walked out of the kitchen, leaving his dinner. We all watched him walk out, before Mum looked back at me and Aiden._

_"And you two? You never argue."_

_Keeping quiet, I was surprised when Aiden spoke up. "Mum I have to tell you something."_

_My heart rate sped up as I though about what he was confessing._

_Was he telling her he was gay? Or that I was pregnant?_

**There you go. Now please don't throw things at me.**

**nmegirl**


	32. My Homelife is Awkward

Jumping off the train, I scanned the crowd for my mum. Rose and Dom were behind me, carrying their trunks in one hand, and sharing the weight of mine in the other.

"Can you see her anywhere?" Holly asked, looking around with me. I shook my head, but caught sight of the Potters. They looked perfect. Albus, who had already said goodbye to us on the train, James and Lily were dragging their trunks over to a tall black haired man and a kind looking red head, standing with trolleys waiting for them.

Lily ran straight up to the woman and hugged her. The smile that lit up on both their faces made my heart ache with wonder. Some other family would be doing that with my baby if I gave him or her up. Albus had a brief _man hug_ with his father, before they both moved Albus and Lily's trunks onto the trolleys.

But it was James' interaction with him parents that really amazed me. The smile on his face was real as he pulled his mother forward for a hug. The loving look she gave him was moving, before he pulled back and turned to Harry Potter.

They shared a look as they slapped each other on the back, looking every bit a father and son. James looked genuinely happy as his father lead the family out the barrier with a proud look at all his children. Before leaving the station, James turned and searched the platform. When his eyes met mine, he gave me a stiff nod, before following the family out.

_I guess he's still angry at me then._

Looking down in anguish, I imagined me and James standing on this platform, waving off our child for their first year at Hogwarts.

But that wouldn't happen if I chose adoption. I had to think of what's best for the baby.

"Ames, is that her?" I looked in the direction that Holly was pointing in. I saw my mum standing by the side, waiting for us to find her.

"Yeah that's her" A smile formed on my face. I hadn't been this happy in weeks. I made to start walking towards her, when Rose shouted "Wait!".

I gave her a look of confusion, to which she replied "Just wait until I've left my trunk with my parents and then I'll give you a hand carrying yours. You shouldn't be carrying heavy things in your condition."

"Won't they wonder why you're carrying mine?"

"A platform as busy as this?" Rose looked amused. "They won't be able to find me after I walk off."

Rose disappeared through the crowds, and minutes later returned trunkless and happier due to seeing her family. Picking up my trunk, which she'd left on the floor, she said "Alright, let's go then."

When I approached my mum, she smiled and opened her arms. I all but ran into them.

"Hey mum." I said with a smile on my face.

"Hey Hunny." She squeezed me tighter. Rose subtly put my trunk down when we were both focused on each other, and waved to me over my mother's shoulder. I grinned in response, before Rose walked off.

Mum pulled back. "where are your brothers?" I shrugged, making her carry on the conversation. "Anything exciting happen this year then?"

_And here we go again._

"Nope. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Pretty boring actually." I said guiltily. She raised an eyebrow at my answer, before her eyes looked over my shoulder.

"Jack! How was school?" He walked up to us, and grunted. Mum was starting to look worried.

"Are you all okay?" Saving us from answering, Aiden approached us. Mum's eyes lit up once more. "Aiden! How are you?"

Aiden didn't lift his eyes from the ground, even as he placed his trunk on the trolley. Jack was not even looking at him. We weren't doing a very good job at acting normal, and Mum could tell something was wrong.

"Right." She said uneasily. "Shall we go?" Jack pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on, and grabbed one of the trolleys. After Aiden had started pushing the other one, we all walked to the car. _Awkwardly_.

As the car travelled down the road to our home, Mum continued to try and make small talk.

"You all happy to be home for Christmas?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Definitely."

"Can't wait."

She looked over her shoulder at the nearest traffic lights. "You all finished your Christmas shopping?"

"Yep."

"Definitely."

"Can't wait."

Trust Jack to answer with something that didn't even make sense. Mum frowned, but turned back to the front of the car when the lights turned green, and drove off. _Well done guys. Very smooth. She didn't recognise a thing._ Note sarcasm idiots.

Once the car had pulled in on our driveway, Mum got out and went to open the front door. When Jack had taken his trunk out the car boot, and made his way into the house, I walked up to the boot where Aiden was still getting his out.

"Aiden…" I said hesitantly. The only thing that made me think he'd heard me, was the way his face tensed slightly.

"Can you help me get my trunk in?"

He just grunted, before picking up both trunks and walking into our home. Why was he being like this? I wiped away a solitary tear as I followed him in.

The rest of the day passed much the same. Saying the minimum we could get away with. The stress on Mum's face when we didn't answer in a way she thought we would. Spending all day in our respective rooms.

By dinner time, Mum had had enough.

"You three haven't spoken to each other since I picked you up from the train." Mum said. None of us made eye contact with the other. "What is going on with you all?"

Jack stood up. "I'm going to my room." He then walked out of the kitchen, leaving his dinner. We all watched him walk out, before Mum looked back at me and Aiden.

"And you two? You never argue."

Keeping quiet, I was surprised when Aiden spoke up. "Mum I have to tell you something."

My heart rate sped up as I though about what he was confessing.

Was he telling her he was gay? Or that I was pregnant?

"Me and Jack have just had a small falling out. No biggie." He said, turning back to the soup Mum had made us. She had a bemused look on her face.

"No biggie? Jack once broke your arm when you were younger and you were talking to him again by evening. What happened?"

"I just told Jack something and he didn't like it."

"Well what did you tell him?" She looked confused. We were all keeping secrets from her, it was unfair to Mum.

Aiden took a deep breath, and hesitated before saying. "I told him I was gay, Mum." The look on her face changed from worry to shock. Standing up, I decided to give them both space. "I'll leave you both alone." I walked out the kitchen, and headed up to my room.

On my way across the landing, I looked into Jack's room. Seeing him sat at his desk with muggle earphones in, I made a spur of the moment decision.

I walked towards him and ripped the earphones out of his ears.

"Hey!" Jack yelled. "What was that for?"

"Grow up Jack!" I growled at him.

"Me grow up? I see you're talking to me now." He spat. I stared at him in astonishment, and he sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry how that came out. I'm trying, I really am."

I sat on his desk, and gave him a look of sympathy. "He's your _brother_. It doesn't change anything. He's downstairs telling Mum now and he just wants to be accepted by his family."

I stood up and gave Jack a slight hug, before leaving to go to my room. When I stood on the landing, I saw Aiden walk up the stairs. "Aiden." I called.

He looked up at my shout, and stopped moving. I grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of my bedroom. Once we were both in, I locked the door manually.

"How'd it go?"

He shrugged. "Better than telling Jack." He walked over to my bed and sat down on it. I looked for a way to phrase my next question.

"Did you….tell Mum…."

"I didn't tell her your secret if that's what you're asking." He informed me. I breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Good." I said. "What about Jack?"

He snorted. "You'd know if Jack knew. Anyway I don't fancy dying any time soon. Ever heard the phrase 'Don't shoot the messenger'? I'm pretty sure Jack wouldn't listen to it."

I nodded looking down at the ground. After minutes of silence, I decided to confront the great big pink elephant in the room.

"Do you really think I'd be a terrible mother?" I whispered. I knew from experience that whispers could not be heard from outside the room, and I wasn't able to perform magic outside of Hogwarts yet.

The expression in his eyes softened slightly, but his face stayed impassive. "You're not ready. You're sixteen years old for God's sake." He mumbled.

"Why are you being like this?" I wasn't upset this time, I was angry that he was against me. I angrily whispered "Not once did I judge you. I've supported you the whole time after you told me you were gay!"

"I'm not going to pretend I'm okay with this!" He whispered furiously back. "You screwed up Amy, and you need to fix it."

I walked over to my bedroom door and opened it. "You can leave now."

Aiden sent me a look of disbelief, before walking out. When he reached the door, he turned to me. "You know I'm right." I slammed the door after him.

* * *

><p>The next day, we were all sitting around the kitchen table for breakfast. And it was silent. <em>again.<em>

"What are you guys going to do today?" asked Mum, already dressed in her waitress outfit from her second job. She had to go into work, so we had to entertain ourselves.

"I was thinking.." Jack started, scooping up some cereal. "We could go into Diagon Alley, chill for a bit. What do think Aiden?"

Aiden looked up from his toast in shock. "You want to do something? With me?"

Jack nodded. "Yep. Quality family time I reckon." They shared a knowing look. "What about you Ames?"

I looked at both Jack and Aiden in turn, and when I met Aiden's gaze, I shook my head. "I'm going to go see if Holly wants to do something."

"Oh come on. Quality Family time. Sounds good eh?" Jack smiled.

"Tempting…" I pretended to be intrigued. "But I'm going to have to pass." I took one last bite of my food, before pushing myself out my seat, pulling out some parchment to write on.

Mum interrupted me before I could even start writing. "You see Holly every day when you're at school. Spend some time with your brothers."

Sighing in frustration, I stood up and picked up the parchment and quill, before leaving for my bedroom. But not before saying "She has my back." and seeing the uncomfortable look on Aiden's face.

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later, I was clothes shopping in a muggle shopping centre with Holly. Her being muggleborn, it was the easiest solution.<p>

"I really like this top" I said lifting up a pink tank top. "Shame I'm going to get fat in a few weeks."

"Well, you've still got a few weeks left right? Plus you can wear it after you give birth. Try it on!" Holly had grabbed the top I'd put back down, and added it to the pile of 'maybes' she'd made. "You're avoiding the subject anyway. Aiden's still not talking to you?"

I scoffed. "Oh he's talking to me. Just taking every opportunity to tell me what a mess I've got myself into."

We headed over to the changing rooms and got in line. Holly looked excited, holding onto a flowery dress. "Why did you tell him again?"

I sighed moving forward in the queue. "Because I thought he'd understand. Obviously I was wrong." The Changing room attendant ushered us forward into two empty cubicles.

Pulling my current jumper off, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The slight bump I'd seen weeks ago was now more pronounced.

"Come in here, and tell me you don't see this." After a few moments, Holly slipped into my changing room.

"Wow. You really are pregnant." I rolled my eyes at her. "Thank you Captain Obvious." I replied.

Holly looked me up and down before responding "Yeah, you're not going to hide it in that tight tank top."

Once again I rolled my eyes and said sarcastically "You think?"

She just shook her head, "If you keep doing that with your eyes, they are _going_ to get stuck like that."

"Probably will with my luck." The bump was too much on top of everything else. It reminded me of the decision I had to make, and so I hung my head under the weight of all the pressure. Holly must have noticed.

"Want to go home?"

"Yes please."


	33. My Relations are Bonkers

_JAMES POV_

Going home with my family is normally a very loud experience, and this time was no different. Except I wasn't joining in.

Albus was telling stories of what he did at school to Mum and Dad, Lily was laughing at all the right points, and I only broke out of my reverie whenever Al mentioned Amy's name. But once Al had finished the story, I started contemplating again.

Everything had been going well. I loved spending time with Amy, I lit up when she entered a room I was in, making it hard to not draw Jacks attention.

I was feeling things for Amy that I'd never felt before. It wasn't love, but I certainly cared more about Amy than any of my past girlfriends. I was willing to even tell her brother about us, and risk the beating I was sure I would get. She was forbidden fruit to any of Jack's friends. And what with me getting her pregnant, I'd be lucky if I survived whatever he would have planned when he finds out.

_Then it all fell apart._

The beginning might have started badly, due to the fact that I'd knocked up my best friends sister, and my whole life was going to change. However I stopped thinking of the negatives, and thought more of the positives the first time I saw him. I had this feeling that it would be a boy. _My son._ I was excited. Not that I wouldn't be excited about a girl. I pushed back the Quidditch career, and focused on a new future.

And then I find out that she's looking into Adoption. I clenched my fists, the only way I could let out my anger without gaining the attention of everyone in the car. The future I'd pictured, teaching him to ride a broomstick, and watching them perform accidental magic started to fade.

I had been happy, imagining a life after Hogwarts with….

"James, are you okay?" Broken out of thought, I looked up and saw Mum staring at me in worry, and Dad looking at me in the rear view mirror of our car.

"I'm fine." I lied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Mum turned back to the front. "You're unusually quiet and you're staring into space. Not to mention if you grip that seat any harder you're going to break it."

Instantly looking down, I noticed my fists had clenched on the edge of the seat. I let go immediately.

It wasn't long before we arrived at home. Mum and Lily linked arms and walked in chatting away. Dad chuckled.

"Guess I'm getting Lily's trunk then." He said before picking it up out of the car, and following the girls in.

As me and Al approached the boot of the car at the same time, Al said "Another Weasley Christmas. You ready?"

"Don't we have to be?" I said causing Al to grin.

"I was hoping you'd say something cheesy like 'I was born ready'."

"Sorry to disappoint."

* * *

><p>Flying. It's where I felt most free. Forgetting worries and feelings, and just concentrating on the wind rushing past you. The adrenaline rush.<p>

"James!"

Feints and Dives. The delight when you pull off a particularly hard move. The exhilaration as you leave the world behind.

"James!"

Somewhere you can be just yourself. Alone.

"JAMES POTTER! GET YOUR ASS ON THE GROUND NOW!"

As long as there weren't little sisters to ruin the moment. Slowing down slightly, and flying to the ground, I glared at her.

"Couldn't it wait for me to come back into the house?" Lily shook her head.

"No it couldn't." She said. "I need to talk to you now."

I looked at her curiously. "What about?" She sighed, before walking over to a bench that our parents had put to the side of our small Quidditch pitch. Naturally, I followed her.

"It's about Jack, Amy's brother." My heart rate doubled. Did she know?

"Can you just tell him to back off Amy for a bit? You know stop being so overprotective, and to listen to her."

"What's he doing now?" If he's upsetting her, I'd…do what? He doesn't know about us. I can't walk up to him and punch him in the face. Not that I'd do that anyway if I wanted to be on his good side.

"I was walking along the train today, and I saw Amy on her own. Then she burst into tears, so can you just tell him? Tell him_ I_ said if you want." Lily begged.

"I will." I promised.

She smiled. "Thank you. That's all I ask. I'm going to be having a word with Aiden." Lily then proceeded to walk back into the house.

Was it only her brothers that were upsetting her? _Was I part of it?_

I had a right to be angry. She knew how I felt about adoption. I told her all about how Teddy had been brought to our house. No questions asked.

_You wouldn't be as angry if she's gotten leaflets on abortion as well._

It was true. If she'd gotten leaflets on abortion as well as adoption, I wouldn't have been as mad. That didn't mean that I wanted her to get rid of the baby, It just showed that she didn't care what I thought. That I didn't get a say in the matter. It made me feel that _I_ didn't matter.

Like I cared for her, but she didn't care about me. I think that's what hurt the most.

* * *

><p>Our house was definitely a sight to behold to anyone who'd never seen it before.<p>

We owned two main properties, using one for balls and parties my parents had to throw, and the other we lived in.

The Potter Mansion was huge, and decorated magnificently. Two massive gold staircases stood at opposite ends of the Entrance Hall. High sculpted ceilings and large impressive windows gave the building character, and was very grand. My Dad didn't even know there was a Potter Mansion until a few years after the war, when he found the deeds in the huge Potter family vault he also didn't know he had. Although it was amazing, it was the least homey environment available.

Which is why we lived at the Potter Ranch. Whereas the Potter Mansion had belonged to my Dad's dad, and his before that, Mum and Dad bought this place when I was six. Previously we had been living at 12 Grimmauld Place. Although it was nice enough when it had been completely stripped and redecorated, and Aunt Hermione had found a way to get the screaming portrait of Walburga Black off the wall, it was only a temporary home while Mum and Dad got settled together.

This place was the epitome of home for us Potters, beating both Hogwarts and the Burrow. The first thing you'd see as you entered the house was a circular hall, with a large but solitary white staircase surrounding one side of the room. Pictures of the family covered the walls. Me on a broomstick aged four, Al taking his first steps, Teddy graduating from Hogwarts and Lily with the family crup, Shiner. But these pictures all surrounded a family portrait of all the Potters, and Teddy.

We had an orchard and many fields, one of which we built a small Quidditch pitch, and our back garden was surrounded by a forest which was included on our land. Not as massive as Potter Mansion, but it was big in its own right.

To others it was the perfect house. To us, it was home.

Therefore where else would all the Weasleys and Potters gather for the first meal back home as a family.

"Hey James!" Roxanne smiled, reaching up for a hug. It's not my fault she's so tiny compared to me. When we pulled back, I asked "Where's your brother?"

"Right behind her" Fred said, walking into view. Laughing, we hit each others backs in affection, before walking in the direction of the main living room. "Where's everybody else?"

"Well, Uncle Percy and his family are already in the living room," I started but was cut off by Fred snorting.

"Of course they are. If Uncle Percy is ever late, I'll eat a Mooncalf."

Laughing together, Fred almost made me forget all my problems. _Almost_. "Yeah um…Grandma and Grandpa are already in there as well, as are Uncle Ron and his family. Just waiting for the Weasley-Delacours and Uncle Charlie's family."

Just as I finished the sentence, we reached the door to the living room. Pushing it open, the various people waved or called out hello to Fred, Roxanne and their parents.

"Oi George" Uncle Ron called out from across the room. "How's the joke shop going?" All the adults in the room stopped their conversations to listen in.

"It's going great. Just got a new product in today, it's going on sale after Christmas."

Aunt Audrey, who was no where near as stuck up as Uncle Percy, said "Oooh. What is it?"

Uncle George grinned. "It's a new prank sweet. Got the idea from muggle fairytales." Everyone in the room looked interested or curious about this new product.

"What does it do?" Mum asked.

"When you eat it, you turn into a frog." Al guffawed at the idea.

"But you've already done that." Al said. "No offence Uncle George, but you've already got Canary Creams for that."

Uncle George just smirked before adding "Yeah, but you change back really quickly with Canary Creams. There are two things you can do to turn back when you eat a Fizzy Fairytale. You can wait twelve hours to turn back naturally."

We all looked at each other, before Hugo said "Or….."

Fred was chuckling to himself just as his Dad said "Someone gives you a big fat kiss."

The majority of the girls, except Roxanne, looked disgusted. Everyone else laughed loudly.

"That's brilliant" Uncle Ron chuckled. "Can I have some for free?" George gave him a look that said 'Are you kidding me?'

"You can have a box for four galleons." Ron looked slightly shocked.

"You're selling them in your shop for four galleons?"

Uncle George shook his head, all the while grinning. "Nope. I'm selling them in the shop for two galleons per box. _You_ can have them for four galleons." Ron gawped as everyone else burst into laughter once more. The doorbell went off a moment later, and Dad got up to answer it. When he returned he just poked his head through the door.

"Bill and the others are here, and Charlie says he's going to be late. Let's go into the dining room." At once, everyone put down their drinks and followed Dad out the room.

Halfway through dinner, that was a joint effort between Mum, Grandma and our house elf called Rona, Uncle Charlie managed to get there, accompanied by his wife Emilia, and both his children. Uncle Charlie never thought he would get married, and thought he'd spend the rest of his life in Romania studying dragons. However not long after Mum and Dad got married, Uncle Charlie wrote to Grandma that he'd met a girl who had also moved to Romania to work with dragons, and that he'd fallen in love with her. This was why his two children Daniel, his five year old son, and Reese, his six month old daughter, were so young compared to the rest of us.

"James!" Daniel came running round to my side of the table and climbed into my lap. For some reason, Daniel had always liked me better than his other cousins.

"Sorry we're late." apologised Charlie, holding a sleeping Reese in his arms. "This one got a bit worked up."

"We've all been there mate." Dad smiled, as they made their way to the empty seats at the table. Uncle Charlie ended up sat next to me.

"Hey James." He said, looking down at Daniel in amusement. "I see he's found you already."

I smiled back. "Looks that way doesn't it?" Daniel, who had had enough of being ignored, piped up. "It's my birthday next week James!"

I put fake surprise on my face. "Really? How old are you going to be? 18?" Daniel started giggling..

"No!" He seemed to be finding this whole situation hilarious, but there was something about children laughing that made you want to smile along with them. I turned to Uncle Charlie.

"Do you know how old he's going to be?" He smirked, before shaking his head. Danny couldn't hold it in any longer it would seem.

"I'm gunna be six!" I pretended to gasp.

"That old! You're going to be bigger than me in no time." I said.

Danny nodded at everything I was saying. "I'm going to fly as good as you and play Quidditch really good too." Before I could reply, Aunt Emilia shouted over from her seat. "Danny, come eat your food please." He turned to me with a really serious look on his face.

"Help me James, she's gunna make me eat carrots!" I laughed.

I turned to catch Emilia's eye. "Maybe just this once, she'll let you off if you eat everything else." She sighed before nodding.

"Yay!" Danny yelled as he sprinted over to the seat next to her, to the amusement of everyone around the table.

"You're really good with him." Charlie's voice made me jump. I turned in the direction it came from, seeing a strange look on his face. "You'll make a great father one day."

The words he said sent a warm feeling through me, _I could do this_ I thought to myself. Charlie had changed the side that Reese was sleeping on, so I could see her face. She looked peaceful, and for one moment, I imagined me holding a child the same way, protecting him or her from harm.

"You really think so?"

"I do, and I'm sure a lot of other people think that way as well."

* * *

><p>All the family had left for their own homes by eleven, and here I was sat in the kitchen five hours later, still awake and still thinking.<p>

_You'll make a great father one day._

It was exactly what I needed to hear. Seeing as I was going to be a father in a few months, whatever Amy decides. If she wanted to give the baby up, I'm going to bring the baby up on my own.

I brought my fist down on the table I was sitting next to as hard as I could. She was so _for_ this baby, and hadn't even questioned what she was going to do until a few weeks ago. What changed her mind?

"Can't sleep Jimmy?" I didn't need to turn around to see who it was. There was only one person who called me Jimmy, and only one person who I'd _let_ call me Jimmy.

"Nope. What about you Dad?" He walked further into the kitchen and took the seat next to me.

"Paperwork. Being Head of the Auror office has it's disadvantages." He stood up. "Want something to drink?"

"Yeah thanks." Dad walked over to the fridge and brought out a jug of pumpkin juice. I wondered where Teddy was. Him working in the same office as Dad, I thought that he would have been home.

"Where's Teddy?"

He placed the jug on the unit. "He's out on a mission. Very safe, but it's going to take a couple of days." As he started to pour it into two glasses, he said "So what's bothering you?"

I decided to play innocent. "What do you mean?" This only caused Dad to raise one eyebrow at me. He walked over to the table once more and sat down.

"Jimmy, I've been able to tell if something was wrong with you since the day you were born. What makes you think that's going to change now?"

I gave a tiny jerk of my head, to acknowledge his point, but stayed silent. Expecting him to continue speaking, I was surprised when he stayed silent as well, but kept looking at me. It was like he could see right through me, like he was searching for what was wrong.

"Stop that." Dad looked confused.

"Stop what?" he replied.

I sighed. "That thing when it feels like you're reading my mind." Dad chuckled before leaning back in his chair.

"I didn't realise I was doing it. I used to think someone looked at me that way when I was younger. In my case, he probably _was_ reading my mind, being a Legilimens and all."

We fell into silence once more

I put my elbows on the table and rested my face in my hands. "Dad, I've let you down."

My face was covered so I couldn't see his face when he said "How so?" I looked up guiltily at him. There was only one person I completely trusted in this world, and if I couldn't tell him, then who could I tell.

"There was this party. Celebrating the beginning of the year, you know" Dad nodded to show he was listening. "There was alcohol, and music, and…this girl. One thing led to another and…."

He made no move to interrupt me, but I could see in his eyes that he was putting two and two together.

"We had sex." This was beyond awkward to be fair. So I turned away at that point, but didn't stop talking. "We didn't really talk much afterwards. Until about a month later, when she said she needed to talk to me."

"Are you.." Dad started rubbing his eyes with one hand, and running the other through his unruly hair. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

I paused, knowing I was probably about to ruin all the faith he had in me.

"She's pregnant Dad. And it's mine."

Dad let out a breath he was holding in. I couldn't turn and see the disappointment in his face, so I stayed facing away.

"I raised you better than that Jimmy." I hesitantly looked over my shoulder. His hand was on his face, and he was staring at the table. "I raised you better than sleeping around, taking advantage."

"It wasn't like that Dad." I replied. "I don't just sleep around, and we were both drunk. I know it's not an excuse, but it _was_ an accident."

He sighed before looking at me, there was so much disappointment in his eyes. "An accident that has left you with a huge responsibility. Do you know what you're both going to do?"

"We did. Until a few weeks ago."

Dad looked more confused than disappointed now. "How can it change?"

"Well she was against abortion and I was against adoption, so we decided to keep the baby. But just over a week ago, I found leaflets that were hers, and they were all for adoption."

"I never asked." He said. "How do you feel about all this?" I contemplated his question for a bit.

"At first I was scared. But I really want this baby. Whatever she decides, I'm going to raise this baby."

I didn't want to believe it, but I thought I saw a bit of pride in my father's eyes. However I didn't want to get my hopes up. "By the way, is there going to be any desk jobs available in your department after graduation?"

My dad had a bemused expression on his face. "There's always desk jobs going. Why?"

"I'm going to need a steady income, if I'm going to support and provide for a baby." I said. He gently shook his head.

"You shouldn't give up on your dream to be a Quidditch player." He stood up. "And I'm proud that you're stepping up."

If Dad was behind me, I knew I could do it. The same warm feeling flowed through me that I'd had when Uncle Charlie said I'd be a good father.

Dad made his way to the hall, so I pushed my chair back and followed him. As we walked towards the stairs, he said "I don't know about you but I am tired. We can talk more tomorrow. And I'd advise you to go to bed too. When the baby's born, you won't be getting _any_ sleep."


	34. My Christmas Just Got Better

_Amy's POV_

Christmas Eve. A day where kids are climbing into their beds early so Father Christmas will come sooner. When the same children would have begged their parents if they could open one present early. A chance to spend time with loved ones. And if you're Holly, a time to dance around the Christmas tree, singing Christmas carols at the top of your voice.

"WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH YOU A MERRY…"

"SHUT UP GIT!"

Aiden apparently thinks it's ok to tell me what to do, and then yell at my friend. _Jackass_.

I glared at him. "Leave her alone." I said. "She hasn't done anything to you."

"She's offended my ears." Aiden snapped back. "I wouldn't mind so much if she could at least sing in tune."

Giving him one final glare, I swept my gaze around the room. Mum wasn't here, she was working late. We all told her she shouldn't be working so hard, especially on Christmas eve, but she wouldn't listen. Jack had gone out hours ago with his mates, leaving me and Aiden alone.

Now this would be a great time to argue more, and to yell at him to at least act like he supported any decision I made. So you know what I did?

I invited Holly around so I had an excuse not to. You don't need to call me a coward. I know that already.

Staring at the Christmas tree, I felt my Christmas spirit plummet to the ground. Our normally fresh pine tree had been replaced with a fake plastic one, and there were significantly less presents under it. Now don't get me wrong, you may be thinking that I'm spoilt, expecting loads of presents and a brand new tree, but it wasn't about that. It was what it represented.

Mum had looked very apologetic when she told us the number of presents would be small, because she just couldn't afford them, and we all told her how it was fine and that she didn't have to worry. Then she brought home last week the fake tree, telling us that we didn't have the money to buy a tree every year, and that ithis/i one would last at least a decade. Once again, we said we were ok with it.

But Aiden, Jack and I were all worried. Not about money, but what it was doing to our mother. She couldn't keep up with the outgoings, and so had picked up a third job as a Receptionist at a Muggle doctor's surgery. She was working more than eating, sleeping, and travelling combined.

"Amy…."

My head shot up. Holly was waving her hand in my face.

"What?" I sent her a confused look.

"I've been trying to get your attention for ages. I've got to go, my mum wants me home."

"Oh." I tried to hide my disappointment, but went with her to the fireplace and hugged her goodbye. Awkwardly, I headed back to the living room.

"I'm going to go up to my room now."

Aiden barely looked up when he replied "You do that."

He was really starting to get on my nerves. Walking upstairs, I though about all he'd said to me. Not once had he said 'It's your decision', 'Whatever you think is right' or 'I'm behind you one hundred percent'. All he'd talked about was that it was a terrible mistake and that I'd do an awful job of bringing up a child.

Whatever happened to family support.

Two things I noticed when I walked into my room. One, There was a package lying on my bed. Two, LBP was jumping at the owl flying around my room.

"LBP! Leave that owl alone immediately!"

However what with him being a cat, and the fact that he doesn't speak English, he continued to chase the owl. Which looked a lot like the Potter's owl, Wendy. _Well_, named after Wendelin the Weird, but you can't blame them for not using the full name.

Picking up LBP and putting him on the bed, he didn't move to chase Wendy again, but kept his eyes on her.

Giving her one of the treats we give Missy, I let her perch on my finger, before taking her to my open window so she could fly home. Once the window was closed, I walked over to the parcel she'd delivered.

It was a square shaped box, and rattled when I shook it gently. After deciding whether to open an anonymous package, I decided it was safe, having recognised the owl as the Potters.

Slowly tearing the paper off, I realised that inside was a jewellery box. I gasped at what was inside.

A silver locket was lying on a scarlet cushion inside the box. Carved into the front was the image of a lion, almost identical to the lion on the Gryffindor robes, and underneath were two letters.

_A.S._

My initials. Awestruck, I didn't open the locket until after I'd run my fingers across the front, feeling the grooves. There were no fingerprints left on it, it was in perfect condition. When I opened the locket, there was a small slip of paper in one side, and in the other was a small copy of my baby's first scan picture.

I hadn't looked at it in weeks. Confusion had been clouding my mind since me and Aiden's first fight, and I hadn't looked at the hard evidence that I was actually _having_ a baby since.

Pulling the small slip of paper out of the locket, I pointed my want at it and said '_engorgio_'. When it was bigger, I was able to read the message that was written on it.

_Ames,_

_Merry Christmas._

_Meet me at the café opposite the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron at nine on Boxing Day. Please, I really want to see you._

_-J_

I smiled at the note. Maybe he'd forgiven me. Looks like this Christmas holiday wouldn't be all bad. Looking for a piece of parchment or paper, I found a small notebook and pen by the side of my bed.

_OK._

_Merry Christmas_

_-A_

Folding the paper up, I was about to walk out of the room to find Missy, when Aiden walked past my door on the way to his own room.

"Aiden, do you have Missy in your room?"

He stopped, poked his head through my doorway, and shook his head stiffly. However before he could go on his way, my hormones took over, only this time it wasn't tears.

Grabbing his arm, I pulled him in.

"Hey, let go!"

"YOU…."I felt my face heat up, and my jaw tense. "ARE A COMPLETE BASTARD YOU KNOW THAT?"

"What's your problem?" His genuine confusion angered me all the more.

"You! You are my problem. Ever since you found out, you've been nothing but cruel. Telling me I'd be a shit mother, and that I should get rid of it, for it's own sake." I yelled, accenting each of my points with a poke to the shoulder. "You should be supporting me, no matter my decision, you should want me to be happy!"

"I do want you to be happy…"

I gave him a look of incredibility. "I _was_ happy. I was Iactually/i looking forward to my future for one moment. Then you went and ruined it."

He didn't reply, just stood staring me in the eyes.

"When this baby is born, it'll be your fault if he doesn't have an Uncle Aiden, because you won't want to be there. I will do nothing to keep you away, you'll do it all by yourself."

He glared at me, before responding. "If Jack finds out, he will kill you. He will kill the father, and then he'll go after everyone who knows and didn't tell him. And you're worried about the way I'm reacting?"

I took a breath before saying what needed to be said.

"It's not your decision to make. So I have seven words for you."

He stood quietly, waiting for me to finish my speech, giving me all his attention.

"I'm having this baby. Now piss off."

Aiden paused where he was, before turning and leaving the room. However, not before I saw a look of guilt pass over his face. I started to let myself believe I was getting through to him. I sat back down on my bed. It wasn't until five minutes later that I realised I had wanted to send my note to James. Picking up my letter, I made my way to Jack's room. If I didn't have Missy, and Aiden didn't have her, I knew I'd find her in his room.

Letting her out her cage, I whispered "Hey Missy, can you deliver this to the Potters for me?" She hooted before flying out and landing on Jack's desk, leg out ready to tie the letter to.

Once secured tightly, Missy took off out the window, I watched her fly into the night, a silhouette against the moon.

"Umm…..why are you in my room?" I jumped, realising Jack was standing at the entrance to his room, smirking at my reaction. I thanked the magical gods that I didn't mention James' name when asking Missy to deliver the letter.

"I was just looking for Missy, I needed to send a note to Albus."

He looked curious, before shaking his head. "You and your friends spend way too much time together as it is."

"Pot calling kettle black." I gave him a playful punch to the arm, as he just laughed it off. He walked over to his desk, and placed his wallet and house keys down on the table.

"Mum home yet?" he asked. "I thought we could all watch a Christmas film before bed." I shook my head, making him frown.

"She's still not home? She really needed to take a break from work." Jack said, with a concerned look on his face.

"You know she thinks she has to support us, and she wants to give us everything we want."

He shook his head in disagreement. "We can live without some things. Come on then, you, me and Aiden can still watch a film together.

As much as I wanted to stick to tradition, I couldn't think of anything worse than being in the same room as Aiden right now. "I'm tired, I think I'm just going to go straight to bed."

Jack gave me a strange look. "Okay, you need to start talking. What is going on between you and Aiden?"

"What?" I started to panic. "There is nothing going…"

"Cut the bull. You didn't want to come to Diagon Alley with us last week, you don't want to watch a film with us which clearly shows the problem is with either me or Aiden. And seeing as you're acting fine with me, I'm going to hazard a guess that the problem's with him."

Wow. He's intuitive.

"We had an argument." I stated carefully. "He doesn't think I should be…dating."

He raised his eyebrow. "Who are you dating?"

I gulped internally. Your best friend. "No-one. I'm just saying I have the right to….date if I want to."

"You do have the right. I also have the right to chase them away using pitchforks, jinxes, and any other utensils I please." He chuckled.

I huffed. "You're an annoying git you know that?" This just caused his chuckling to get louder.

"I know but that's why you love me." I shook my head, but this time in amusement. I hugged him goodnight, and left for my room.

* * *

><p>Walking into the living room next day, I realised I was the last one to wake up. Mum was sat in the armchair, whereas Aiden and Jack were sat on the sofa, leaving space for me on the far end. Mum got me quite a few items of clothes I would be too fat to wear, and a rather pretty bracelet, Jack bought me a box of chocolate cauldrons (that I couldn't eat because they contained fire whisky) and a few prank items from WWW. Aiden obviously bought his present for me before our argument. He got me a gorgeous photo frame, where the design swirled around the edge by itself. And it was full of pictures of all of us. It was a very personal gift, which I would have loved a hell of a lot more if we were talking.<p>

"So….Christmas dinner. I couldn't afford a turkey, so I just got chicken." Mum tried to sound upbeat, but I could hear the sadness in her voice. Showing that she thought she was failing at looking after us.

"Don't worry mum." Jack replied, smiling back at her.

"Yeah." I answered. "What's the difference anyway?" Aiden walked forward and pulled Mum closer into a hug.

"Thanks for cooking us dinner Mum." He said. "We all know how much you do for us, and we're so grateful."

We took the time for a group hug because we were awesome like that, to hopefully cheer mum up before we all headed to the dining room for dinner.

Half way through dinner, I started to get a funny feeling in my stomach. _Damn indigestion_. I was really enjoying my food too. Maybe I shouldn't eat anything else, it didn't seem to agree with me.

"Right everyone" Mum announced, glancing at all of us in our paper hats in amusement, "Time to take all your presents up to your room."

We each gathered up all our things, and walked up the stairs one at a time. When I reached my room, I had the weird feeling again. Only this time it resembled more of a fluttering.

And that's when I realised. It wasn't indigestion.

It was my baby's first ever kick.

I welled up again. I felt closer than ever with my unborn child, and I wondered how I'd ever let Aiden's opinion sway my decision. There was no one better for a baby than it's mother, especially one who would do everything in their power to look after them well.

In that moment, I swore to protect the baby as long as I lived.

Climbing into bed at the end of the day, I couldn't help but place my hand on my stomach.

"Goodnight baby. Thank you for the best Christmas present ever." I smiled down, knowing that the baby didn't hear me, but finding comfort in it all the same.


	35. My Best Friend Just Can't Be Left Alone

Now a normal boxing day for us would be lying in bed, after over indulging and staying up late. Followed by promising to never eat as many sweets again.

Which made it easier for me to sneak out of the house early, unnoticed. If anything, the kick that LBP gave me last night made me all the more eager to meet up with James. News like this was made to be told, and there were only a few people I could tell.

Silently creeping around the house, gathering all my things together, I was sure I was in the clear as I approached the fireplace. However no such luck.

"Where are you going?"

Jumping what felt like a mile into the air, I took a deep breath as I turned to see who was behind me.

"Aiden you scared me."

He looked at me in suspicion, as his eyes moved from my bag, to the pot of floo powder I was holding. "You haven't answered my question."

"I'm meeting up with Holly." I lied. "Boxing day shopping. You know, the sales are up and all. Thought we'd get in first."

You'd think with all the lying I was doing, they'd be getting better. Sadly, we both knew that was not the case.

"Of course you are." Aiden answered sarcastically. "No really, who are you meeting up with? Is it the father? Because I still need to meet _him_." He cracked his knuckles in a threatening way.

Which of course had the opposite reaction on me, making me giggle. I'd like to be able to blame the hormones for this one, but I know that I'm just strange. Holly might be rubbing off on me.

"Aiden, you may be taller than me, but I'll only see you as my kid brother." I said, to answer his confused look. "No offence but I can't see you beating this guy up."

"Do I know him?"

"I really have to go." Aiden just gave me an 'I don't believe you, you're a terrible liar' looks. _If there is such a thing._

"Look I think we can safely say that you're not going shopping with Holly." He started. "You need to improve your…."

"HELLO!" someone came rolling out of the fireplace, and straight into Aiden, making them both fall to the ground.

"What the….." Aiden managed to get out before looking at who knocked him over. "FOR GOD'S SAKE AMY, GET YOUR FRIEND OFF ME!"

Meanwhile, while I was crying with laughter, doubled up may add, Holly was looking around at the scene before her. When her eyes fell to the guy underneath her however, she couldn't resist a comment.

"What are you doing on the floor?"

This only made Aiden angrier. "I'm on the bloody floor, because YOU KNOCKED ME OVER!"

"Really?" Holly actually looked interested in the predicament. "Well this is awkward isn't it?"

"Do you know what would make it less awkward?" When Holly shook her head, he finished with "IF YOU GET OFF ME!"

"Alright, don't get your wand in a knot," Holly crawled off of Aiden , and stood up. "Why are you standing so close anywho?"

Aiden spluttered for a few seconds before replying "It's my living room!"

Finally after succeeding in pulling myself together, I turned to Holly still slightly giggling. "Leave him alone now. We've got to go."

Aiden growled before leaving the room muttering profanities into the air.

"Let's go!" I said. Holly nodded, before taking some floo powder, chucking it into the flame and saying "Leaky Cauldron!" After she disappeared, I repeated exactly the same as she did.

As I came into the pub, I noticed that Holly was lying on the floor again, and was lying on someone else. Obviously she'd landed on one of the morning drinkers.

I sighed. "Holly you really need to work on your landings." I didn't manage to hear her reply however, due to the slightly muffled, but quite loud shout of "GET THIS CRAZY WOMAN OFF ME!"

"Seriously. Aiden deserved it, but this guy hasn't done anything wrong." Pulling Holly up by the hand, she turned to the old guy she'd landed on.

"We were never here!" She said waving her hands in his face, like she was trying to hypnotise him. "You've just drunk so much, you're hallucinating."

She then proceeded to jump around chanting. I'm not going to lie, he looked pretty scared. Leaving me to turn to the closest person, say "I don't know this woman", and walk out the exit into Muggle London.

She chased after me however. "Why'd you go? I was nearly finished convincing him."

I raised one of my eyebrows at her. "And chanting is the way to do that?"

"I got the idea from a rain dance. Cool huh?" I shook my head this time with a grin on my face.

"I left because I actually came to meet James at nine, and it's now ten past. Remember that plan? You'd come to my house and leave with me so I have an alibi."

"Oh yeah. You said you'd buy me an ice cream for my efforts." Her smile widened. "When can I get it? When? When?"

She really had lost the plot. "Is it just me, or did someone get you Loony pills for Christmas? I mean it's December and you _actually_ want ice cream."

"It's Christmas. Christmas equals sugar and excitement. What did you expect?" This time she was looking at me strange. Pot calling kettle black, methinks.

Rolling my eyes, I answered "I don't know, just try not to get arrested for the next couple of hours yeah? I'll meet you back in the Leaky Cauldron at one."

She saluted me then walked off. She actually _saluted_ me. God help anyone who meets her today.

Walking into the Café, I scanned the room. There were seven tables in view from the door, and I couldn't see James on any of them. I was in the right place, right?

"Excuse me can I help you? You look lost."

Turning to the girl who had asked me, and clearly worked in this Café, I answered "I'm just looking for someone."

The intrigued look on her face disappeared, and was replaced with a knowing look. "About six foot? Messy dark hair? Gorgeous?"

The little green monster inside me came from nowhere. This girl had a great body, perfect skin, and was really pretty. I didn't think I was bad looking, but I was going to blow up to the size of a whale in the next few months, what with me being pregnant and all.

"Sounds like him." I replied, looking over her shoulder to double check all the tables again.

"He's on one of the tables closer to the back, out of the way." She said. "Told me he was waiting for someone too. Want me to take you there?"

I nodded and followed her further into the Café, passing both empty and full tables on the way. Not many people were in the building, most probably because it was too early to be packed.

Finally after a few moments, I could see his messy mop of hair in the distance, sat in a booth. My heart rate sped up slightly, and a small smile formed on my face. I had missed him.

"You're friend is here." She said to James, who turned in my direction. His anxious expression changed to a more relaxed version, as he turned to thank the girl. After she left, I slightly awkwardly took the seat next to him in the booth.

"Hey." _Great start, Holly. Now if you add some more words you'll make a sentence. Why don't you try it sometime._

James' smile widened. "Hey." he replied.

"Hey."

"You've already said that." He smirked, especially when a blush crept up on my cheeks.

"So I have." I answered, trying to stay cool. "I'm really _really_ sorry. About everything." His smirk dissolved, and a curious look formed on his face. "I never meant to make you feel that your opinions didn't matter."

"I just don't understand. One moment we're planning what to do when the baby comes, the next I find leaflets all covering adoption. What changed your mind?"

I sighed and looked down. "You're right, you don't understand. I've told four people other than you about this baby. The two people who you're related to are really supportive about it all." I glanced up to see his face, to see how he was feeling about it all. So I thought that I'd be able to tell someone in my family. That they'd be okay with it."

James frowned. "Who'd you tell?"

"I told Aiden. He's just come out as gay. So I didn't think he'd be quite as judgmental as he was."

I felt his hand on my chin gently, making me look up more. "What did he say?" I shrugged, trying to make him think that I wasn't fussed.

"It didn't go to well."

"What did he say?" He repeated, staring into my eyes with intensity.

"He said….." I hesitated. "He said that I'd be a terrible mother. And that I should get rid of it."

James' whole face tensed. And he looked pissed. "He said that did he?" I nodded just before he stood up, pulling his jacket on.

"Where are you going?" I said, confused as to his impending disappearance. He just turned back to me, before saying "I'm going to find your brother."

Grabbing his hand, and pulling him back into the booth, I said "Don't be stupid. He doesn't know who the father is. If you show up and give him hell, I think he'll get an idea, don't you?"

"He had no right to say that." He scowled. "You'd be a great mum."

A soft smile formed on my face. "You think so?" He seemed to calm down after a few moments and answered back.

"I know so."

_Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale._

He leant in slowly, with me mirroring his actions. Somewhere around the middle, our lips met. They moved together, a slow rhythm forming as we kissed for the first time in weeks.

God, I missed this.

James pulled away, leaning his head against mine. "Did you like your Christmas present?"

"I loved it." I smiled, my fingers moving to my neck where the locket was resting.

"It's Goblin Silver. It won't get damaged, It won't get dirty."

I was in awe. "It must have cost a lot. Goblin's don't make them cheaply." He laughed, before smiling wryly.

"I told you, I have enough in my Trust fund. Plus Ragnuk the fifth is a goblin who knows my Uncle Bill, and is a descendant of the goblin who made Gryffindor's sword. So he was happy to do it, at least until the owner passes away. Then he'll probably want it back." He chuckled.

We fell into a comfortable silence, when the waitress came to take our orders.

"I've decided." I said, grabbing James' attention. "You told me to let you know when I'd decided what I was going to do."

He looked really nervous all of a sudden. "And?" He asked quietly.

I took a deep breath before saying "I've been thinking it through, and I've decided to keep the baby."

If I had a camera I would have taken a picture of this moment. The look on his face was something I wish I could freeze for years to come.

A massive smile took over him, as he leaned in for the second kiss that afternoon.

"What made you change your mind?" He said, looking like he'd won the Muggle lottery. I grinned.

"I'd forgotten everything positive about this pregnancy, when Aiden was telling me how hard it would be and that it was for the baby's sake if I had it adopted. The picture in the locket made me remember it all." I paused dramatically before adding, "and the baby kicked last night."

James spat out the water he'd been drinking. "Wh..what?" He stuttered, looking shocked. "And I missed it?"

"Well it wasn't a kick anyone else would have felt." I explained. "It was a sort of fluttering. But the book says it's the baby's first movement." James placed his hand on top of mine on my stomach, which I had unconsciously put there. "It was the most amazing thing."

The moment was ruined however, when the waitress came back to the table. We managed to remove our hands without her noticing.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" she said, mainly aiming the statement at James.

_Uh, yes please. How about some space. You do do that don't you?_

"No thanks." He said, without even looking up at her. "We've got everything we want here." She smiled at him before turning to leave us on our own.

James held my hand under the table the whole time we were there. I felt like I was a kid again, and it was all you wanted to do with your crush. But it still had my heart racing.

"Your stomach has grown."

I smiled inwardly. "Yep. The fatness has begun." James just shook his head in amusement.

"You won't be fat. I'd be more worried if you were nine months pregnant and your stomach hadn't grown." I snorted.

"Well played Mr Potter."

"Why thank you Miss Swann." We chuckled together before James grabbed my attention again.

"Oh by the way," he started. "My Dad knows." This time it was my turn to choke on my drink. After gasping, and finally getting the oxygen I need again, I responded.

"He does?" When James nodded, I said "What did he say?"

"He's proud I'm stepping up." He answered. "But I can see he's disappointed in me as well. Thinks I took advantage." He looked down.

"Hey. It takes two you know, as cliché as it is."

James just shrugged and went back to his drink. A silence fell over us once more, before I had the courage to break it.

"He's supportive though yeah?"

James' thoughtful expression was changed for a slightly happier one. "That he is. He's trying to convince me to carry on with my dream of being a Quidditch player."

"Well he's right." I said, giving him a playful shove. "I don't see why you can't have a baby and be a Quidditch star."

James waved off the comment. "Let's talk about it some other time yeah?"

"Alright then."

* * *

><p>Saying goodbye inside the café, we went our separate ways. James was going home, and I had to make sure Holly was still alive.<p>

Walking into the Leaky Cauldron, I took a seat at one of the tables to wait for her, seeing as I was twenty minutes early. Good thing I was too, as it wasn't even a minute later that Holly ran in through the Diagon Alley entrance, and into the pub out of breath.

"We need to go right now."

I was confused. "Why?" Holly stood there looking guilty, eyes flashing back to the door she came through.

"I may or may not have kicked someone's ferret."

My chin had actually dropped in amazement. _How on earth can you maybe kick someone's ferret?_ "Are you having me on?"

"Alright we've been here too long. LET'S MOVE!" Grabbing me by the hand, she preceded to drag me out into muggle London.

"Seriously Holly? I can't leave you alone. We need the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron to get back, so what we going to do?"

She chuckled. "Calm down, we'll just go back in an hour or two." Suddenly she frowned. "And I was really looking forward to Florean Fortescue's ice cream. I was going to have Tangy Toffee."

"Well thanks to you 'kicking a ferret', you'll have to make do with muggle ice cream." I said walking down the strange street. "Anyway, how did you end up kicking a ferret?"

"Thought it was a Jarvey, didn't I?" She seemed to find the situation quite comical. "I heard something say 'You're rather hairy', and I turned around to see this white Jarvey. So I kicked it. Turns out, it was a child saying it to the Jarvey. Well, it was a ferret but they looks strangely alike."

I sighed. "I'll never get use to you will I?" When she shook her head in amusement, I replied "Come on then weirdo, let's find you that ice cream." We walked off down the road in search of it, with Holly babbling about the slight differences between a Jarvey, and a ferret.

**A/N: First off, I'd like to say that I didn't make up the Jarvey. I like to stay as Canon as possible. You'll find them in JK's _Fantastic beasts and where to find them_.**

**Second, thanks to all those who continue to review this story. Reviews make me a very happy bunny indeed.**

**Thirdly, I hope that all those who like James and Amy together are pleased. I was going to string this out slightly longer, nut it seemed the right time to get them back together. Not that they ever broke up in the first place really.**

**And finally, a sneak peek.**

_Walking back after hours was not fun. In fact it was slightly creepy._

_All the shadows seemed to be intimidating, hiding parts of the corridor from view. Noises that were not normally heard during the day echoed around the halls._

_Why did he have to keep me in detention so late? I mean two hours I can understand. But four hours? Really? It wasn't like I hadn't finished cleaning the cauldrons or sorting the dead flobberworms. He just kept looking for more things to do._

_Note to self, don't fall asleep in Professor Grayson's class in the near future._

_I was so deep in my own thoughts, that I didn't notice the arm go around my body, and the hand cover my mouth, before dragging me backwards into one of the empty, disused rooms on the corridor._

**There you go. Something to keep you guessing until next time.**

**Who is it? What do they want?**

**nmegirl**


	36. My Return To Hogwarts

Today was the day we were going back to school. In a slightly bad way, I couldn't be more thrilled.

For one reason, I could escape the awkwardness that had become my home life. Normally I couldn't wait to get there, and complained for hours before the Hogwarts express left the station. But since September, we'd had more arguments than normal, and Mum couldn't really figure out what was wrong.

Another reason I was aching to go back to Hogwarts was for the simple reason of being able to see James more frequently. For a regular couple, it was hard to see each other during one of the holidays. Throw in the fact that it was a secret relationship, and we hadn't been speaking for the first couple of weeks, we'd been able to meet up a grand total of two times.

The final reason being that Mum was working more and more hours, the longer we stayed at home. Seeing as we spent the majority of the year in school, she had grown used to only feeding one mouth and had needed to do more hours to provide for the children. I'd be happy now I knew she didn't have to work so hard.

"Get up Aiden."

"Leave me alone." Pointing my wand at his bed, I said "_Aguamenti_"

"What the hell Amy!"

_Payback's a bitch isn't it?_

Giggling to myself, I yelled from the door "Better get up, we'll be late for the train." I dodged a pillow thrown in my direction, and skipped down the stairs.

"Someone's happy today." Mum smiled, watching me twirl around the kitchen while I was preparing my breakfast.

"It's a great day." I said. I should be in a musical. This would be the part where I sing an amazing show stopping number whilst performing a tap dance. The part where they sing about how life is good. Shame I can't carry a tune to save my life.

I'll just have to stick to smiling instead.

"I've already made your coffee." she said, pointing in the direction of a steaming mug, placed right by my usual seat. Eyeing the cup, I said as nonchalantly as I could, "That's alright. I'm not in the mood for it today."

This time it was mum's turn to eye _my_ bowl. "You haven't drunk coffee since you got home, and you've been eating Muesli."

I really thought I'd been found out. That Mum had finally put two and two together to make four.

Until she grinned and said "You are_ my_ daughter aren't you? Someone hasn't kidnapped her and put you in her place? Someone hasn't spiked your drink and made you feel unwell at all?"

"Who is this someone?" I smirked back. "They seem to be doing a lot of bad things." Mum laughed out loud, a sound I hadn't heard in a while.

Followed by Aiden traipsing in, covering the floor with water and glaring right at me. It was a sight that made me chuckle. This was turning out to be a good morning.

"Thanks for the wake up call." He said to me sarcastically.

"Anytime." I grinned.

Mum looked like a gaping goldfish. "Aiden! What on earth happened to you? And why are you so wet?" This caused Aiden to openly glare at me once more.

"_Someone_ thought it would be a great idea to pour water on me to wake me up." I tried to put the most innocent look I could on my face.

I turned in the direction of mum. "See! This someone has done it again." She just shot me a bemused look, before replying "Maybe they should be reported to the Ministry of Magic."

Aiden did not seem to find the situation as hilarious as either of us, and proceeded to stamp out of the room. _How childish_.

* * *

><p>Running through the Barrier into Platform nine and three quarters, Aiden immediately turned to Mum and gave her a hug goodbye, before telling us that he'd seen his friends and had gone to meet up with them.<p>

"I don't know what is up with him lately." Mum said, looking worried. "He's been moody all break."

Jack shrugged his shoulders, even though he thought it was to do with me arguing about 'dating rights'. I was more than happy for him to keep thinking this was the case, and wasn't about to correct him.

I could always tell him in a couple of months. After the baby has been born. And I've successfully emigrated to Australia.

"Mrs S!" The ball of energy that is Holly came running out of nowhere to hug my mum. The action made her smile.

"Hey Holly, How are you? Where's your mother?" Sometimes, I think she loves Holly more than me.

She smiled widely. "She's just outside the barrier. I saw you all come through, so thought I'd come over."

"That's very nice of you." Mum said. "I'll just go talk to your mother now." She then proceeded to walk in the direction of the barrier. Turning in Holly's direction, I just raised my eyebrows in disbelief.

When she finally noticed the face I was giving her, she looked confused. "What?"

"Is your weirdness selective?" I asked. "You seemed almost normal around Mum."

All Holly did in response was smirk. Jack was just stood to the side watching in amusement. "I'm going to go look for my mates."

After he walked off, we headed in the direction of the train when the whistle blew. Before climbing on, we both hugged Mum, who had come back through when the time got closer to eleven. Both Holly and I waved with all the other students as the train started to move.

"Time to find a carriage eh?" I said. But before I was able to start moving, Holly decided to scream as she ran down the corridor, making everyone else move to the side in shock.

I never know whether I love or hate that woman for causing drama.

That left me to follow her down the corridor whispering apologies, and not looking them in the eye. _Ah well, I should really be used to it by now._

Once I'd caught up with her, I said "Did you really have to do that? You could have simply just asked people to move politely. It wouldn't have taken you much longer."

"I'm not a very patient person." She shrugged, before pulling out her copy of the Quibbler. What with her being muggleborn, she'd never read many before. However Jack though it would be hilarious to show them to her, after she'd initially been compared to Luna Lovegood. And we've been getting a lot more strange stares since. _Thanks Jack, I owe you for that one._

* * *

><p><em>JAMES POV<em>

Anyone walking past our compartment would've thought that we were just four best friends sitting around, playing Exploding snap and having a laugh.

They obviously couldn't see the tension I was feeling.

It was non existent to everyone other than myself. After all, No one in this compartment knew that I was seeing my best friend's sister behind their back. Or that I'd already planned a future for us.

"Earth to James."

Snapping out of my thoughts, I noticed everyone was laughing at me. Chuckling along with them so as to avoid anyone noticing something wrong with me, I remembered what Lily had said to me during the Christmas break.

"Hey Jack." I said, making him turn towards me in curiosity. "Maybe you should loosen the grip you have over your sister's dating life."

Jack seemed to look at me in suspicion. "Why are you so concerned?" Fred and Sean weren't concentrating on their game anymore, but were trying and failing to listen in sneakily.

"I'm not." That you know of. "It's just Lily came up to me at Christmas and told me that she'd found her on the train home crying." I could see the slight softening in his eyes, even though his face didn't change. "Lily said it had something to do with how overprotective you are and asked if I could talk to you about it."

Fred and Sean had abandoned the 'Listen in without getting caught' plan, and were full out staring at us as we had the conversation.

Jack sighed. "Do you think I don't know how annoyed she gets after every guy I run off? I see the anger and betrayal in her eyes when she confronts me, and it hurts to know that its upsetting her."

I didn't reply, not knowing what to say. The silence in between what Jack had just said and his next sentence was uncomfortable.

"I see all the girls at Hogwarts who start dating, their world starts to resolve around some guy. And when that guy breaks up with them, it breaks their hearts. I don't want that for Amy." He took a deep breath before saying "I will make sure she doesn't get her heart broken. If it means she hates me in the process, then so be it. I'd rather me be hurt by her hating me, than some random guy hurting her in any way."

Jack focused the next line directly at me. "If it was Lily, would you stand around waiting for the guy to hurt her?"

We all fell into silence once more. I could see it from both sides. Being the brother to Lily and the boyfriend to Amy.

"You're just delaying the inevitable." We all turned to Sean, the normally quiet one of the group. Although a Quidditch player, he wasn't loud and raucous off pitch. He was a great listener, and gave good advice. And a great friend.

We all gave him the same confused look until he explained. "How long are you going to watch over her? Until she's left school? Until she's _old enough_? It'll all be the same if she's an adult and she gets her heart broken for the first time. It'll hurt just as much." He turned away from us and back to his chocolate frog. "Who's to say that every guy who she dates will break up with her anyway?"

I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to make sure she never got hurt.

* * *

><p><em>AMY POV<em>

"Let me get this straight." I said to Rose at six o'clock in the morning, an hour before I had to start getting ready for the first day back at Hogwarts. "You and Scorpius are an item now?"

Rose nodded whilst bouncing. Quite the comical sight when you're sleep deprived and it's _Rose_. She began to describe about how it started.

"So I found him on the train home, he was in a compartment with one of his mates. Pierre Zabini I think it was. Anyway so we found an empty compartment, and I said that if he still wanted to, I'd love to go on a date with him." She seemed to be able to talk without breathing apparently. "We met up a few times during Christmas, when I could sneak out unnoticed. Which you can imagine with parents like mine, is not that often."

"That's amazing." I said in monotone, rubbing at my eyes in exhaustion.

"Are you…..are you not listening?" Rose sounded disappointed.

"NO!" I exclaimed. We were sat in the Common Room, so the shout wasn't likely to wake anyone else up. "I mean, of course I'm listening. I'm just a bit tired."

She looked quite guilty. "Sorry." she said honestly. "I know it's early, but I really needed to talk to somebody about it. It's not often I have gossip that I want to share."

"It's fine." I said. "And it's not how early it is. For me it's just really late."

I expected the look of confusion that formed on her face. Seeing as she had only gotten up about half an hour ago, and came down to find me sitting staring at the fireplace. I hadn't had any sleep, as Rose wasn't the only one who had stayed up to talk to me tonight.

I had decided previously that I would go to bed at midnight at the latest. That meant I would have at least seven hours sleep before I had to wake up in the morning. However my plan didn't quite work out.

At half past eleven, Dom had come to sit next to me, with the intention of talking the hind leg off a donkey. I was not kidding. She spent four hours talking about relationships. FOUR HOURS. She gossiped about all the people who were dating at Hogwarts, who had gotten with who, all past, present and future boyfriends.

Yes. She was talking about who she would go out with next week, even though she already had a boyfriend. In her defence, she was getting signals from him that he _was_ about to dump her. Why anyone would dump Dom though was beyond me.

Finally, around about three thirty, I casually put into the conversation that we both needed sleep. She only replied with the fact she was part veela, and therefore didn't need much beauty sleep, before prancing of to the dormitory.

I'd like to say I hadn't been watching the clock, but sadly I had been. No offence to Dom, but every minute had been torture.

When I thought I could finally go to bed however, Holly came down.

Now if I had thought the conversation about relationships had been boring, I obviously hadn't bet on Holly wanted to talk.

Two bloody hours talking about cats.

The different colours of cats. Speedy. How some looked cute, and others looked downright freaky. Speedy. How they don't like water. Speedy.

Throughout the whole time, there was only one thought going through my mind.

_Is it possible for someone to 'Avada Kedavra' themselves wandlessly and non verbally?_

Once she'd managed to get 'Do you think Speedy loves me?' off her chest, she finally went to bed at half past five. Only for Rose to come down with her 'Scorpius' news.

"Late?" she asked. "What do you mean late?"

I sighed. "It doesn't matter. Why don't we carry on this conversation tomorrow?" Rose nodded before hugging me goodnight and leaving for her bed.

Already hearing the movement of some of the early birds waking upstairs, I whispered to myself "There's no way I'm going to be able to sleep through this." I began walking up the staircase, in order to start getting ready for school.

* * *

><p>"MISS SWAN!"<p>

Bolting up from where my head was resting on the desk next to my cauldron, I grimaced at the stern look on Professor Grayson's face, and smirking faces of Veronica and Nicole in front.

"Are we interrupting your sleep?" He said firmly.

Dropping my eyes away from his in guilt, I replied with "No sir."

"Good. In that case you can turn to page 56 like all the others already have." He said smoothly. "And then you can join me here tonight at eight o'clock for detention."

Walking out of class at the end of the lesson, I was trailing along behind the others, when I was once again pulled out of sight, this time into the space behind a portrait.

Turning to see who had 'kidnapped' me, I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, you've got to stop doing that." James just smirked.

"Doing what?"

I laughed. "Pulling me into empty spaces when I'm with my friends, one of which is your brother. Soon enough they're going to realise that I go missing whenever I walk down a corridor."

He gave me a quick peck on the lips before saying "Would you like to go on a date with me this evening?"

"A date you say." I teased. "And what would be happening on this date?"

James put on a faux thinking face, before explaining. "A meal in the Room of Requirement. Maybe kissing." I snorted. "Fine then, a lot of kissing."

I smiled before remembering my detention. "Oh I forgot." The smile fell off my face. "I have detention this evening at eight."

"And there was me thinking I could sweep you off your feet with my good looks and charm." He said, making me giggle. "Who put you in detention?"

"Professor Grayson."

"Ah." He nodded. "From what I hear about the Potions Professor my parents had, it's must be in the job description. 'Wanted. Potions Master. Must be an asshole.'"

I smirked. "Sounds like it. Rain check?"

"Sure. I'll sweep you off your feet another night."

* * *

><p>Walking back after hours was not fun. In fact it was slightly creepy.<p>

All the shadows seemed to be intimidating, hiding parts of the corridor from view. Noises that were not normally heard during the day echoed around the halls.

Why did he have to keep me in detention so late? I mean two hours I can understand. But four hours? Really? It wasn't like I hadn't finished cleaning the cauldrons or sorting the dead flobberworms. He just kept looking for more things to do.

Note to self, don't fall asleep in Professor Grayson's class in the near future.

I was so deep in my own thoughts, that I didn't notice the arm go around my body, and the hand cover my mouth, before dragging me backwards into one of the empty, disused rooms on the corridor.

When the door had been closed behind us, the hand had fallen away from my mouth.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled, only for the hand to be replaced before I could say anymore.

Once I'd been pushed to the far wall, I was turned around, and able to see the face of my abductor.

"Jason? What is wrong with you?"

"You're ignoring me." He stated. "You're avoiding me. I want to know why."

"And kidnapping is the way to do that." I stated bluntly. He didn't even crack a smile at my sarcasm, and I don't think I'd ever seen him this serious.

"I said I wasn't going to give in easily. We're meant to be together. So I freaked out at the beginning, I'm here now and that's what matters." He had a look of sheer determination in his eyes, along with something else that I couldn't recognise.

His hand tightened on my wrist, and I felt claustrophobic due to being backed up against a wall.

"Jason, you're hurting me." But my words did nothing to relieve the pain he was inflicting on my arm. If anything, his the grip worsened.

"Is it another guy? I'm not going to let you go, You're too important to me."

And for the first time, I realised that when I told James that I might have been pregnant, and when I wondered how I would tell my family, it wasn't real fear.

Because as the darkness heightened my senses, I felt afraid of Jason.

**A/N: So did anyone expect this ending? Does anyone know how it'll play out? I'd love to hear your opinions. **

**Here's your sneak peek.**

_"You told him?" I said accusingly._

_"It's not like I couldn't." James said. "Don't you think it would look a little weird if Jack found out from him? Not that he'd have the guts to tell him anyway. Without it going very painful, very quickly."_

_"He's overreacting." I said. "Jack likes to overreact, and now he's going crazy over it."_

_Through the silence, I was able to hear James mumble "It's not like he doesn't deserve it."_

_Before I could reply however, He added in a louder voice "Look, let's just agree to disagree." Although I was dying to argue my point more, I nodded my head. I wasn't going to change his mind._

**Thanks to all the reviews I've received.**

**nmegirl**


	37. My Brother's Look Out For Me

"Let go of me Jason."

His wrist tightened, leaving what I was sure would be bruises behind. The manic look didn't disappear, but his face relaxed slightly.

"I don't mean to frighten you." He said. "But I have to get my point across. You've just forgotten how good we were."

"I…" Normally this is the point where I'd use my amazing sarcasm. However, this time, I didn't want to rile him up any further.

"Jase, I'm sorry, but I just don't think we should be together." I winced. "If you could just loosen your grip a little, that would be great." I kind of liked my hand. If he carried on the way he was, he was going to cut off my circulation.

"Just try to relax." He said. Before I could work out what he meant, he slammed his lips down onto mine.

Now a couple of months ago, I would have responded. This was back when we were going out, and he seemed perfect. However this guy in front of me didn't seem like the same person, along with the fact he was being an asshole and this kiss was entirely unwelcome.

Lifting my hands, I tried to push him off me, but he was too strong. So I did the one thing I could think of. I bit his lip. _Hard_.

Jason let out a shout, at the same time I managed to yell "Get off me you creep!". But if I thought that would scare him off I was obviously wrong. As he approached me once more, I tried to think of my next defence.

Turns out I didn't have to.

At that point, a new pair of arms pulled Jason away and pushed him into the opposite wall. Brushing the hair away that had fallen into my face, I looked up to see the back of James' head as he faced Jason.

"She said to get off her!" He said quietly, however the threat was evident in his tone. Jason, sporting a bleeding lip, and leaning against the wall, tried and failed to look like it didn't affect him.

"What's it to you Potter?" he spat. "Why do you care so much?"

The colour drained from my face. _Was our secret relationship about to come out?_

"She's…" He said, hesitating. "She's my best friend's sister." Recovering, the warning tone crept back into his voice. "We look after our own."

There was a silence that filled the hall. Both boys squared up to each other, looking like two males in a pack about to fight for the alpha position.

After a few moments, Jason visibly fell back However instead of relief, we could all see exactly what was going through his mind._ Another time._

"You better watch your back Potter." He threatened whilst backing away down the corridor, showing that he was protecting his. "Maybe it's time you found some of that bravery your old man had, because you're going need it."

"Just walk away Davies." James growled, looking like he was physically restraining himself from running after him.

Jason's eyes flitted over to mine for a few seconds, before finally walking around the corner, his footsteps fading.

James turned to me, allowing me to see the hard look in his eyes that he hadn't been able to hide. "You okay?" He grumbled. When he realised how harsh it came out, he took a deep breath, and tried again.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said, knowing it was a complete lie. I noticed I was shaking slightly, having not felt it earlier, and that my heart was racing. "How'd you know where I was?"

"Map." He replied, still not quite himself. I nodded in recognition.

I waited for James to start the conversation once more. When he was ready to talk, he would. It wasn't long therefore before he lifted his head, clearly clearing his thoughts, to ask "Did he hurt you?"

"No." I lied. His eyes moved down to where my arm had subconsciously covered the other arm that Jason had grabbed.

He walked over to me, pulling the sleeve of my robes up my arm. When his hand brushed the bruise that was already forming, I let out an involuntary hiss. His eyes darkened when he saw the discoloured patch of skin.

"You don't need to lie to me." He said. "I can control myself from beating the shit out of him." He paused before mumbling to himself. "I shouldn't have though."

Obviously he hadn't meant for me to hear that part, but I responded all the same.

"It wouldn't help if you landed in detention. You did the right thing." I whispered.

James only scoffed. "He would have deserved everything he got." He gently smoothed my injured arm, before pulling back. "Shall we head back to the Tower?" Nodding, we set off to the Common Room.

* * *

><p>"YOU GOT ASSAULTED BY JASON BLOODY DAVIES AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?"<p>

Not the best wake up call, I can tell you.

Now, a normal reaction would be to grab your wand off the bedside table and shoot a spell or two in the direction of the door, if you think someone might be attacking you at six thirty in the morning. Which is exactly what Rose, Dom and I all did.

However we all know that there is one person in our dorm who _isn't_ the least bit normal. So what does Holly do?

Picks up Speedy and hurls him at the door, screaming 'INTRUDER!' at the top of her lungs.

Luckily Jack, being a Chaser, was able to catch the cat before he managed to get injured. Speedy did not look amused.

"Holly?" Seeing confusion on Rose's face was like seeing Hagrid in a tutu. Just plain wrong. "Did you just throw your cat across the room like a weapon?"

She just shrugged. "Some people don't like cats." This time Dom piped up.

"What if they do?" she said.

Holly put on her thinking face, which looked a bit like she was constipated. "Didn't really think that far did I?"

Shaking our heads, she contemplated for a bit more before grinning. "If we're ever up against a dark wizard who could block spells but was allergic to cats, I think I'd rather have me as an ally." She shouted before skipping into the bathroom.

"You have to admit," I said, trying to put an end to both Rose and Dom's goldfish impressions. "She's bonkers, but great entertainment."

"ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER ME?"

Forgot about Jack being here. "How are you in here?" I queried. Can't have brother dearest thinking I knew boys could get in girl's dormitories. He'd think I was seeing someone behind his back.

Which was exactly what we didn't want him to think.

"Secret corridor." Jack growled, waving off my question. "Don't try to change the subject."

I sighed. "When would I have the time to let you know?" I reasoned. "It only happened last night. I wasn't going to wake you up for this reaction."

He still looked angry, but I could see that he knew I was right. Turning around, he stormed out the dorm.

Getting up from my position on my bed, I walked over to the door and closed it. Spinning round to look at Rose and Dom, who had witnessed the whole thing, I said "And you wonder why I haven't told him about the baby yet."

* * *

><p>After getting out of Charms early, I made my way across the castle to wait outside James' class in a small alcove.<p>

It was only here that I realised how hard it must have been for James to pull me into one of these the previous times. Not only do you have to keep yourself hidden, but then you have to kidnap someone without others realising. It's a tough task.

Eventually, the classroom door opened, and students started to file out. Unsurprisingly, James, Jack and Ryan came out last. Fred wasn't around, seeing as he didn't take Ancient Runes, and James was closest to me. Just after they passed my hiding spot, I reached for James' hand.

My fingers touched his. Then slid off again.

I really shouldn't consider a career as a ninja.

Luckily for me however, he turned when he felt someone touching his hand and managed to see me before I snuck back in to hide again.

"Hey guys." I heard him say. "I think I left my Book in the classroom." After a number of insults were heard about how forgetful he was, their voices faded away. Followed by James sliding into the alcove with me.

With a smirk he said "As you can see, kidnapping people is not as easy as it looks."

I however did not join in with his joke, but instead decided to settle on a glare. "You told Jack about what happened last night."

James sighed, not even trying to pretend he didn't know what I was talking about or change the subject. "I knew you'd take it badly."

"You told him?" I said accusingly.

"It's not like I couldn't." James said. "Don't you think it would look a little weird if Jack found out from him? Not that he'd have the guts to tell him anyway. Without it going very painful, very quickly."

"He's overreacting." I said. "Jack likes to overreact, and now he's going crazy over it."

Through the silence, I was able to hear James mumble "It's not like he doesn't deserve it."

Before I could reply however, He added in a louder voice "Look, let's just agree to disagree." Although I was dying to argue my point more, I nodded my head. I wasn't going to change his mind.

"Fine." I mumbled. "I'm still right though."

James rolled his eyes. "Listen. Jack would wonder why I hadn't told him if he heard I was there. If I was only your brother's friend, I would've told him. Therefore, due to the fact we are still keeping this secret, it would be a good idea to act just as I would've done."

Great. Turns out he was the one who had a point.

"See. I was right. You can bow at my feet now." He chuckled.

I snorted. "Like that's going to happen." He put on his best puppy dog face. _Oh god, don't give in._

"I'll settle for a kiss instead then."

I put my arms around his neck, and smiled. "I think I can stretch to that."

* * *

><p>Two days back into school, and I was already drowning in homework assignments. The teachers must secretly hate us all, and group together to organise large workloads at the same time. I think they need to get a life.<p>

"Whatcha doing?"

I looked up and groaned when I saw Holly. "Homework. You can go away now."

She looked affronted. "That was rude."

"Whenever I do homework, you try to help me by spouting random facts that have nothing to do with what I'm doing." I said. "I really don't need that right now."

"I'll be quiet I promise."

I gave her a look that said 'I don't believe you', but she pouted until she got her way. As I started writing again, she leant over to read my Potions essay.

"Poison antidotes eh?" she asked, making herself comfortable.

"I just don't get Golpalott's third law." I said, trying to concentrate. "It's just too confusing."

"I see." she muttered. After a few moments, she added "Did you know that a Dodo is really a Diricawl? Muggles think that they're extinct, but they can just vanish at will."

_And there she goes._

"Not helping Holly." I glared.

"Ah well, I tried." she said, smiling. "By the way, Aiden's coming your way." I looked up to see she was right, and he was almost here.

Glancing down at my massive pile of work, I sighed. "Never mind, it's not like I'm going to get anything done with you here anyway."

When Aiden was finally stood next to me, he started playing with his hair out of nervousness. "Can I sit down?" He asked.

"Go for it." I replied. When he sat down, we both turned to Holly, waiting for her to leave. After examining her nails, she noticed us staring.

"What?"

"Can I talk to my sister for a moment?" He said, tapping the floor with his foot.

Holly nodded. "Of course you can." But she still didn't leave.

"Holly, go!" I grumbled. It took a few more minutes, but eventually, she got the gist and left for bed.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking directly at me. I huffed internally, before leaning back in my chair. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

Aiden raised one of his eyebrows. "Maybe because your ex practically forced himself on you. So are you alright?"

I nodded, softening slightly inside when I realised he still cared. "I'm fine, thank you. Did Jack tell you?"

"Yeah. I couldn't let Jack do all the work could I?"

Obviously noticing the confusion on my face, Aiden cleared it up for me. "Jack had a little run in with Jason, and gave him a black eye. I though he deserved a matching one." He smirked.

Aiden beat up a guy? "You punched somebody?" I asked, shocked. I never had Aiden down for the violent type.

"We couldn't let him get away with it Ames." He said, total honesty showing on his face. "I'm…..I…"

A guilty look overcame his face, but he lifted his head up, determined to say what he needed to. "I'm sorry about how I reacted." He looked around the room discreetly, before lowering his voice and saying "about the baby."

Looking down, I answered "It's okay."

"No it's not okay. I shouldn't have made it harder for you, but I wanted to tell you that I'm going to help you if you need it."

I pulled him closer and hugged him. I was so relieved that he wasn't against me anymore, and that I had at least one family member supporting me.

After a while he pulled back, and stood up. "I've got to get going."

"Where?" I questioned.

"Me, Jack and his mates have got detention. Turns out Jason Davies is a grass." He shrugged.

"Wait, Jack's mates?"

"Potter, Weasley and Wood. Don't act so surprised." He said, when he saw the shock on my face. "You know they all look out for each others families. Jack will definitely be looking out for Lily though. The number of hexes Potter got in was incredible." Swooping down to give me a kiss on the cheek, he turned and left the Common room.

I sat staring into the fire for a while, until a smile broke out over my face, happiness spreading through my body like wildfire.

I had my brother behind me, and it meant the world.

**A/N: I hope you liked the chapter, I'm sorry that you had to wait so long.**

**I'd like to thank everyone who has been kind enough to leave a review. They make my day.**

**Sneak Peek Time!**

_"Everything looks good." The Healer said, smiling. James was beaming next to me, while I was relieved that everything was okay._

_"Any problems you've experienced?" He added._

_"Nope." I said. "It seems to be going by the books." And I should know. James has been quoting them every minute of every day._

_"That's a good thing." He replied. "So that leaves one question." We looked at him expectantly. "Do you want to know the gender?"_

_Excitement. That's how I could describe what I was feeling. I could practically feel James bouncing next to me._

_Turning to him, I said "Shall we?"_

_He smiled at me, before responding to Healer Jones. "Yes please."_

**So what do you think it will be? Boy or Girl?**

**nmegirl**


	38. My Life is Surprisingly Going Well

I hadn't realised just how much I had missed Aiden not being in my life as much as he had been. Although I had laughed at him whenever he said he would beat up any guys who looked my way, a trait he had picked up from watching Jack do as he pleased, I had never been more grateful knowing that both my brothers were watching my back.

I also forgot how annoying little brothers can be.

"For the last time," I moaned. "I am not telling you." Lying on Aiden's bed, I threw the closest pillow I could reach in his direction, hoping to emphasise my point.

"Oh come on." He said, catching it easily. "You expect me to just help out in this pregnancy and not know who the father is?"

"I expect you to stop annoying me."

Aiden sighed. "I just want a quiet word with him about what his intentions are."

I couldn't stop the snort from coming out. "I think his intentions have already been made." I tried to make a joke but noticing how his jaw tightened, I realised it wasn't the right time. "Still too soon eh? Anyway is your quiet word before or after you kick him where it hurts?"

"After obviously." He said matter of factly. "But before I break his jaw if he gives me the wrong answer."

"Aren't we in a violent mood recently."

All Aiden responded with was a raised eyebrow, making me sigh and say "Look, all you need to know at the moment is that he's a nice guy, and he's going to support me."

"Is it Davies?"

I pretended to hurl, before saying "You heard me say 'nice' didn't you?"

"I will find out you know." He said whilst shrugging.

I smiled. "When I want you to." A comfortable silence ensued, The empty dorm making the silence all the more noticeable.

"Who's the father?"

"Shut up Aiden." Smirking to himself, he rolled over onto his front and pushed himself up so he was standing.

"So tell me," he said, sitting down on his bed next to me. "What have I missed?"

"What?" I asked, confused as to what he meant. _Missed?_

"With the baby. Anything big happened yet?" I smiled in his direction, sitting up so I could see him better.

"Not much. I've felt flutters from her moving, and I've had the first scan. It was the most amazing feeling I've ever had."

Aiden looked curious. "Her? Do you already know what it is?"

I shook my head. "I think it's a girl and…..the father thinks it's a boy." My heart skipped a beat, when I realised I had almost said James' name. "There have been arguments."

Aiden nodded in understanding, but didn't respond in any other way.

"Would you like to see a picture?" I said quietly. Aiden turned to face me, and nodded excitedly. Pulling the locket out from under my top, which I hadn't taken off since James gave it to me, I passed it to him.

Flipping it open, his eyes softened as they fell on the moving sonogram picture. "This is my niece or nephew?"

"Pretty cool huh?"

* * *

><p><em>JAMES' POV<em>

"My arms ache so bad." Sean moaned, causing the rest of us to chuckle at his comment. "How come none of you are in as much pain as I am?"

"Because my dear Watson" Jack started, causing me and Fred to laugh more at the confused expression on Sean's face, "You are obviously not as strong as I." Jack then proceeded to pull muscle man moves, causing a group of fake girls who were walking in the opposite direction to sigh.

"Or we just weren't able to slip you one of my dad's joke wands." Fred smirked to Jack's annoyance. "I really don't think Filch would be able to tell the difference between a wand and a twig sometimes. But we stuck with the joke wand to be on the safe side."

"Which meant," I finished "that we were using our real wands to clean up the trophy room, unlike you."

This was followed by another moan off Sean, and another round of chuckles from us. As we were walking along however, we were able to see Davies walking towards us with his friends. Even though he clearly saw us, it didn't stop him from ramming his shoulder into mine as he went past.

"Oi Davies" Jack yelled, making him stop where he was walking and turn around. "Do you want to add another black eye to that collection of yours?"

Sneering at us, he responded "How was detention?"

"It was alright." Fred replied, smirking again. "Piece of Cake. How's your pride?" This lead to Davies scowling.

"Think you're all so great don't you?" He snapped. "But you're all just thugs."

"Yeah?" I stepped forward, thinking about the frightened look that was on Amy's face before I was able to pull him off. "So what does that make you?"

Davies also stepped forward so we were face to face. "I thought I told you to watch out Potter?"

"Or what?" I said with a threatening tone. "You going to put us in detention again?"

"At least let us do something worth getting detention for first." Fred said from behind me, causing the other two to laugh.

A crowd was gathering around us, even though all students should have been making there way to their next lesson. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Amy and her friends slow down to see the argument as well.

I watched as Davies' eyes flicked to her direction, and the look I saw pass through his eyes sent a wave of hate through me. _He had no right to look at her in that way after all he's done._

"I hope you're practicing Quidditch day and night." Davies said menacingly. "Because we're not going to take it easy on you next week."

"As opposed to all the other times we've beaten you where you were letting us win." Sean said sarcastically. Davies stared at me with despising eyes, before stepping backwards without turning his back to us.

"What do you think we're going to do? Curse you when your back is turned?" I said. "We're Gryffindors, not cowards."

Davies looked like he was ready to start a fight, and he probably would've done if Professor Trimble hadn't taken that moment to walk past and notice everyone gathering.

"Move along." He said to the mass of students who had stopped to watch. After the hall had partially cleared, he turned to our group. "I thought you lot would have learned your lesson after your injuries and detentions last time. If you can't get along, then just stay away from each other." He only left after Davies and his mates had walked off to lesson.

Turning to scan the hall, I wasn't surprised to see that Amy was one of the few who hadn't run to class straight away. She was stood against the wall with her friends with a worried expression on her face.

_I'd talk to her later._

"Come on man." Jack said, snapping me out of staring at his sister. Luckily he was already walking in the direction of the classroom.

"I'm coming." I mumbled, following at a slower place.

* * *

><p><em>Amy's POV<em>

James and Jason had been arguing again. I didn't want this to become a regular thing, I just wanted to forget all about him.

Time to write me some letters me thinks.

Grabbing some parchment, I sat down on my bed and began writing.

_Dear Mum,_

_I miss you already, but it won't be long until I'm home again, Easter's only a few months away._

_The boys are behaving themselves, and we're all getting along a lot better. Jack and Aiden are acting as normal, and it's as if nothing has happened._

Pausing a moment to think of what to write next, I felt bad about wanted to come back to Hogwarts so much, and leaving Mum alone in the house.

_Counting the days until I see you again._

_Love you._

_Ames xxxxx_

Folding and sealing the letter, I placed it to the side. I then started on the next one.

_Meet in my dorm._

_-A_

There was only a small window of opportunity for my plan, to get my message to James, to work. And it relied on luck, and Jack not being in his dormitory right this minute.

Sneaking out the dorm onto the staircase, I looked up and down to make sure no one was around. I then made my way up to the top of the stairs. Standing in a Walnut coloured picture frame, was a blonde girl, wearing old looking robes and looking very innocent. _Trust Romeo and Juliet to be from the Wizarding World._

"Umm…." I said awkwardly. How do you ask someone to let you sneak into the boys dorms. I could've walked down the stairs and up the boys', but there was more chance of people seeing me. If the boys were in the Common Room, I'd never get away with it.

"Let me guess," she said, with a friendly smile on her face. "You need to go through the passageway."

Blushing, I answered "Yes please."

After checking the staircase one last time, I turned back to the portrait which had swung open to allow me to walk into the hidden passageway. As soon as I was completely in, the portrait swung closed again.

Walking across the short distance, I noticed the portrait in the middle, of both the girl that was in the previous picture and another boy. Romeo and Juliet were holding hands, and smiling at me.

"Thank you." I said to them both, to which they nodded. "You both make a lovely couple."

After they both thanked me in return, Romeo said "I'll just go check the coast is clear on the boys' side." After they kissed goodbye, he walked out the portrait, leaving us in what felt to me like an uncomfortable silence.

"So….." I said. "Sorry about being dead and all." _Never let it be said that subtlety is my strong point._

"It's alright hun." she replied, not even looking the slightest bit offended. "Don't worry about it." Romeo walked back into the portrait.

"All clear. You ready?" He said to me. When I nodded, he disappeared again, and I made my way to the opposite end of the passageway. It swung open, and I found myself on the boys' staircase.

Now to find the seventh year dormitories.

Luckily for me, they were the closest to the top, and after knocking, realised no one was inside. So far, my plan was working.

Opening the door, I scanned the room.

You could tell which bed belonged to who. One bed was surrounded by prank objects, both old and new, and clothes were strewn everywhere. Weasley's bed.

The next was covered in Puddlemere United memorabilia. Quidditch outfits, a quaffle signed by all the players of the team of '95. This must've been Wood's corner.

Therefore the other two beds were easy to tell apart, seeing as I could tell which one was surrounded by Jack's belongings, and the other was surrounded by pictures of the Potter family.

Placing the note for James in his bed, I then made my way to Jack's side.

And that's when the door opened, and they all came in. Luckily, I'd already done the part of the plan which mattered.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked confused, James in the background seemed to find it amusing. The other two didn't look like they cared.

"I need to send this letter to Mum." I said, holding up the parchment so that Jack could see. "And Missy is in your room."

When he nodded, I carried on with my task. After I saw Missy flying off into the distance, I left the dorm and made my way back through the passageway.

* * *

><p>Did he find the note? Was he going to come?<p>

I'd left the note on James' bed over an hour ago. All the girls had made sure they were decent, so that when James came, it was alright for him to stay for a bit.

"Maybe he's held up." Dom said, trying to cheer me up.

Getting up, I made my way to the mirror, and lifted my shirt slightly. My bump more pronounced, was getting harder to hide everyday. Soon, even the half sized bump due to my _Invisibumps_ would still be noticeable.

"I'm going to need new robes soon girls." I said, sadly.

"You could always borrow mine."

The new voice made everyone jump, and Holly even fell backwards off her bed with a thump. With me trying to stop my giggles from getting too loud, James smirked.

"You alright down there Holly?" He said.

"THAT BOY IS EVIL." Holly jumped up, hopped over her bed, and poked James in the eye. I'd like to wish I was kidding.

"OW!" He yelled, holding one of his hands up to the eye that was watering.

"Shouldn't have scared me then should you?" Followed by her walking to the bathroom, slamming the door, and walking back to her bed.

"I'll take this one." Rose mumbled. "Umm, Holly? Why the door?"

Holly shrugged. "I just have strong feelings."

"Not even going to ask." I said before pulling James over to my area of the dorm. When we sat down on my bed, I asked "So you know what tomorrow is right?"

"Yep." He said smiling, pulling me closer so that I was hugged into his side.

"So do you want to?" I asked him. He seemed to think about it for a minute.

"I think I do. It would be more of a surprise if we waited, but I don't think I'd be able to." He answered, smiling down at me.

Before we were able to carry any other conversation, we were interrupted by Holly again.

"Are you two having a full conversation about sex?"

"Wh…wh…" I stuttered blushing. James just looked at Holly with a weird look on his face.

"NO." I shouted, to the amusement of the other girls. "We've got our next scan tomorrow, and we can find out the sex of the baby."

"Oooohh." Holly said, getting excited. "I hope it's a girl. That way I can dress her up."

"I won't let you near my cat Holly," I said bluntly. "What makes you think I'll let you anywhere near my baby?"

Dom had to have her say next. "A boy would be quite nice." This only caused James to reply with "I don't really mind. I'm just excited to find out. But I have a feeling it might be a boy."

"What do you think Rose?" I asked, who had been pretty quiet today.

"Does it matter?" She said. "As long as it's healthy."

Poking James in the arm to get his attention, James muttered "I wish people would stop poking me today."

"You need to stop arguing with Jason." I said. "It's not good for my nerves."

And James mumbled with all the maturity of a five year old. "He started it."

_So mature._

* * *

><p>"So Aiden is covering for me again, although this time he knows where I'm going." I said to James as we walked through Hogmeade, him once again in disguise.<p>

"That's good." He said. "I'm glad you've got him to help you now."

"Me too." I said walking into the Hogs Head.

"Oh god." Abeforth moaned. "Not you again."

I rolled my eyes, putting on an expression of hurt. "Nice to see you too Abeforth." Already walking towards the fireplace.

Abeforth started muttering profanities under his breath as we flooed to St Mungo's. My good luck that had been lasting for the last couple of weeks, seemed to still be holding, as the Welcome witch who had been there for the first two visits, was not on shift today.

Making our way into the Maternity ward, we were welcomed by Marie with a smile on her face, before being ushered into the examining room.

"Sorry we're late." I said, apologising. "There was a big queue for the lifts in the entrance room."

"No problem." She said, "You're lucky we had a cancellation straight after your appointment, so there's no rush."

Healer Jones walked in, this being the cue for Marie to leave.

"Alright, shall we get another look at this baby?" He asked, clearly in a good mood.

I jumped up on the table and leaned back, lifting my top away from my swollen stomach. James let his hands gently stroke my abdomen, before reaching for my own hands.

_Sigh._

The Healer did his stuff, and sooner than I thought, a new picture was being projected onto the wall. Bigger than the last one, the baby had a much clearer shape, with the lower half being blurred. This was in case we didn't want to know the sex until the birth. How anyone had the patience to wait was beyond me.

"Everything looks good." The Healer said, smiling. James was beaming next to me, while I was relieved that everything was okay.

"Any problems you've experienced?" He added.

"Nope." I said. "It seems to be going by the books." And I should know. James has been quoting them every minute of every day.

"That's a good thing." He replied. "So that leaves one question." We looked at him expectantly. "Do you want to know the gender?"

Excitement. That's how I could describe what I was feeling. I could practically feel James bouncing next to me.

Turning to him, I said "Shall we?"

He smiled at me, before responding to Healer Jones. "Yes please."

With a swish of his wand, the blurs disappeared at the same time that he said "It's a girl."

"A...a…." I stuttered, happy tears creeping up on me. I felt my hand being squeezed hard, and I looked up at a grinning James,

"Are you disappointed?" I asked. He looked down at me,

"Never." He said, rubbing my hand with his own. "I don't think I've ever been happier." Our eye contact was only broken by the Healer coughing to get our attention.

"Sorry." He said genuinely. "But I need to know if you want any copies of the new scan, and how many?"

"Two." James replied, at the same time I said "Three." When he gave me a strange look, I said "One's for Aiden. He missed out for the first trimester. I think it's only fair he gets one."

James sighed, before saying "Four please."

When the healer left to get the pictures, I asked "Four?"

"My dad's going to want one to show my mum." he said. "I agreed that he could tell her. She's going to kill me."

I gave him a sympathetic look, as we took the newly made scan pictures and left to see Marie outside.

"Let's have a look then." She said happily. Handing over the scan, she 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed like your suppose to when someone shows you a picture of their baby.

"So I have your paperwork here." She started. "And your Healer wanted to organise a growth scan in your thirtieth week, just to make sure everything is growing normally, what with this being a teenage pregnancy." She searched through her records. "Nineteenth of March? It's a Saturday again."

"That's fine." I smiled, James' arm sneaking around my waist.

We walked into the lift, identical smiles on each of our faces. Only when the doors close, did they fall off.

"Shit."

I turned to James, after he swore to see what was wrong. His hair was slowly turning from the blonde of the guy he was impersonating, to his normal black.

"Take some more polyjuice potion." I said, panicking.

"I left it at school." He said, pressing one of the buttons above the ground floor. When the doors opened early, he pushed me out.

"If you want this kept secret, you're going to have to go back to the Hog's head separate from me." He whispered, allowing the doors to close between us. Looking up at the screen above the lift, the number changed from '1' to 'G'.

Heading to the stairs, I ran down to the ground floor. Out of breath, I pushed the double doors open to the entrance room.

James, looking exactly like his normal appearance, was making his way to the fireplaces. Followed by a large crowd of people; some taking photos, others just seemed to want to get close to him.

This world that he was so familiar with seemed so strange to me. In Hogwarts, taking photos of any of the Potter/Weasley family wasn't allowed without their permission. Along with any other famous students. So to see people forcing their way into his personal space, it showed a whole new respect for what exactly he had to deal with.

Tomorrow morning, there would be hundreds of pictures in all Wizarding newspapers and magazines showing James Potter in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. When he should've been in school.

**A/N: Yay another longish chapter. : )**

**What do you think will happen with James? Will he get in trouble? Will Amy and James be found out?**

**Preview time!**

_I'd never seen such a violent game of Quidditch, and having spent my last six years watching Gryffindor and Slytherin matches, that was saying something._

_What was worse was that the main instigator was my ex boyfriend. And the other people joining in were mainly my brother and James. Testosterone levels were definitely high at that moment._

_Shoving, kicking, punching and pulling were all happening a hundred feet in the air. It had been terrifying._

_Luckily the game was over though, so I was being forced to relax by Rose, who seemed to have taken the role of 'Annoying fake healer' in this messed up story I was living in. Constantly whispering in my ear that stress can't be good. Like I didn't know that already._

_So with everyone either celebrating or commiserating and my friends being irritating gits, no one else saw the bat fly out from no where, aimed right for the back of James' skull._

_"LOOK OUT!" I yelled._

**Drama drama drama.**

**Thank you for all reviews received. They are warmly welcomed. : )**

**nmegirl**


	39. My Emotions Are All Over The Place

**_James Potter spotted in St Mungo's_**

_By Phillipa Greenwood_

_Just why was James Sirius Potter, son of the boy who lived, in St Mungo's when he should have been in Hogwarts?_

_Speaking to a number of witches and wizards who were in the Entrance Room of the hospital, the sudden appearance of Potter in their midst seemed to have mixed opinions._

_"Ooh it was lovely" said Mrs Miranda Redbird, who has been a fan of the Potters for a number of years. "Most people with that kind of fame wouldn't think twice about pushing us lesser magical folk out the way. He seemed like such a nice boy."_

_Others, however, didn't seem so amused at his jaunt into the spotlight._

_"I think it's despicable." said a Mr Johnny Blishwick. "He was clearly skiving school to get glimpse of life as a celebrity. You know those Potters and Weasleys try to keep their lives as private as possible. Disrupting the service here as well, what with Healers and nurses trying to get a closer look."_

_Although we were unable to speak to James Potter, we were able to secure a short statement from his father, Harry Potter._

_"James was out of school in order to visit a close family friend, who had taken ill at the time of the incident." said the saviour of the wizarding world. "I can assure you that he had the approval of both the teachers of Hogwarts and myself before he left the school."_

_Even so, Harry Potter himself had a knack for getting into trouble, breaking a large number of school rules throughout his years in Hogwarts._

_You know what they say. Like Father, Like Son._

_Continued Page 5._

This. Is. Ridiculous.

I can't believe them. Trying to paint James as a bad guy. The boy who's a bad influence, skips school and enjoys being the centre of attention. They couldn't be more wrong.

Screwing the front page of the Daily Prophet into a ball, I chucked it across the dorm.

"Ow!" It's not like I was aiming for Dom.

"Oh please." I said. "That didn't hurt." Dom just shrugged her shoulders before saying "Reflex."

"When you're finished destroying my stuff," Rose said, picking the Daily Prophet that I'd chucked off the floor. "We need to go down to breakfast."

"Whatever." I grumbled. Getting up from my bed, the white shirt and the grey jumper I was wearing rose up my abdomen.

"Really?" I shouted at my clothes. "Is this really the time to make my life difficult." My clothes had been getting tighter over the last few weeks, but it was ignorable until this point. Tugging at the hem, I gave it up as a lost cause, pulling my robe on over my school uniform. "At least the school robes are baggy."

Before I was able to close the robes over my uniform however, Holly came out of the bathroom and caught sight of my bump.

"Whoa. Someone ate Amy." she said, looking directly at me. Normally, in any other situation, I'd laugh off any of Holly's comments. Seeing as I was in another hormonal landslide, that didn't happen this time.

Through my blurry eyes, I managed to see Rose hit her, at the same time as Dom whispered "Well done. Very tactful."

"Am I r..really that f..fat?" I tried to say calmly. _No such luck._

"No!" Rose and Dom protested together.

"You look amazing." Rose said.

"You're glowing." Dom smiled. What did glowing mean anyway? If I was walking around glowing neon, I wouldn't say it was a good thing.

_You try heaving around extra weight. You'd glow too._

However, I wasn't able to answer either of their remarks, seeing as this was the moment Holly decided to be truthful.

"I'm not going to lie, you look more fat than pregnant at the moment." She said, shrugging before getting ready herself.

I was fat. I knew it. I tried to squeeze my eyes so the tears wouldn't fall, but I couldn't do it.

"Oh god." Holly gasped, looking in my direction. "Not again. What do you want? Ice cream?" She looked desperate now. "I'll get you ice cream!" she ran out the door, and after the thunder down the stairs, we heard her shove people out the way.

"I don't want ice cream!" I wailed, as Dom closed the door. "I'm too fat for ice cream."

Rose sighed. "You're not fat." But I wouldn't listen, I was shaking my head. I probably looked insane.

"You're lying. James probably doesn't find me attractive." I hyperventilated. "Veronica's pretty!"

"Veronica's a slut." Dom said, smirking.

"But she's a pretty slut."

Rose turned to the door, where Dom was waiting for me to calm down. "Can you go and find James?" she said. "He should be at breakfast."

About fifteen minutes after she left, and a lot of tears on my part, she returned with James in tow.

"What happened?" James asked, walking straight over to where I was sat on the bed, sitting next to me. "What did you do?"

Me and Rose ended up speaking at the same time.

"I didn't do anything."

"I'M FAT!"

Followed by me throwing myself into James' arms. He would probably push me off him in disgust. After he made a comment about how I resembled a whale or something.

So I was surprised, when he pulled me closer, and started rubbing circles into my back.

"You are not fat." I could hear the amusement in his voice. "The majority of pregnant woman think that, but don't you think it would be weird if you were four months and _not_ showing?"

"I guess." I muttered, trying to control the waterfall of tears.

"It just means everything is normal, which I for one am glad for."

Lifting my head up from where it was resting on his chest, I looked for any sign that he was lying on his face. "You're not disgusted by how I look?"

"No." He exclaimed. "If anything, you look even more sexy." This managed to get a small chuckle out of me.

"Of course it does." I said, sarcastically. "Every man's dream."

The smile that he had from cheering me up, disappeared from his face after my statement. "Stop putting yourself down. You don't see yourself clearly enough."

A shy smile started to form on my face, and I wiped away a few stray tears. "How did you know most women feel that way?"

He looked sheepish. "Pregnancy books." He responded quietly.

"Wow." Rose said, causing us to remember they were still here. Both Dom and Rose had looks of disbelief. "Fancy moving into the dorm, and dealing with her mood swings from now on?"

"I think people would notice." He smirked. They both excused themselves to go to breakfast, leaving us alone.

"How's LBP?" He whispered in my ear, making me shiver.

"She's coping." I smiled, frowning suddenly. "How are you though? Did you read the prophet this morning?"

He nodded stiffly. "I'm alright, contrary to what the press think I'm used to it." He took a deep breath in, and laid back on my bed as he was releasing it. "Phillipa Greenwood wants to be the next Rita Skeeter. She doesn't care who she hurts to get to the top." Smirking in my direction, he said "Luckily, I'm very thick skinned."

"I noticed that your dad was mentioned." He gave a mix between a grin and a grimace.

"That's Dad. Always got my back. He obviously pulled some strings with the teachers to go along with it, But I still got detention, for leaving school grounds. I'm lucky really." The grimace became more prominent. "The lecture I'm going to get when I get home, from both my parents, about not being careful is going to be painful."

Moving closer, I whispered "I'm glad you're okay. It's not fair how they treat you." James followed my lead, leaning in until his forehead was resting against mine.

"Their opinions don't matter to me. My family, my friends and those close to me do." Brushing his lips against mine gently, he added "You do."

After his barely heard whisper, I couldn't keep the gap between us going much longer. I brought my lips to meet his own.

We started with a slow pace, that eventually reached something more ferocious. Leaning back, I pulled James along with me. Resting on his arms, that were only either side of me, he moved his mouth down to the pulse point on my neck.

His hands sweeped along the bottom of my jumper, which was showing the bottom of my bump, due to how tight it was now. Moving his hands slightly lower, they rested on my stomach as his mouth returned to mine.

A sharp pressure on my stomach made me jump back, forgetting all about what we were doing. It was only when I noticed James with a look of shock as well, that I realised I hadn't imagined it.

"Did you feel that?" He whispered, staring in awe.

"Yeah." I breathed, trying to control my breathing after our make out session. "Was that….."

"A kick?" He finished my question for me. "I think so." Another moment of shock passed between us, before identical grins spread across our faces.

"Wow." He said, moving his hands, so that they were only either side of the bump, hoping to catch another movement. The proud look he had, as he gently stroked it, made my emotions soar.

Looking up from where he was sat, he suddenly looked worried. "Um Ames? Why are you crying again?"

"I'm not upset." I said, to put him at ease. "This is just…"

He seemed to understand how I was feeling, because he just held one of my hands, and replied with "I know."

It was a good moment. And with everything else good going on with my life, the moment had to be broken.

_And who was our resident moment breaker?_

Holly ran in, slamming the door as she did so. Face covered in melted ice cream, and an empty bowl in her hands.

"I'm so sorry!" She shrieked. "I was on the way back from the kitchens, when this…owl swooped by and said 'Hey, I want that ice cream.'" She paused, and put her thinking face on. "I tried to fight, but the owl was too strong. He took it all!" She then started nodding violently.

_I'm guessing she didn't know there was ice cream all over her face. Hand to face moment._

"Never mind Holly." I smirked, standing up and pulling my robe closed. "It's the thought that counts right?" Walking past her to the door, I stopped next to her. "Oh, by the way, you've got a little something by there." I pointed to the corner of her mouth. She blushed as James chuckled, following me out the room.

"Let's split up and go to breakfast." He said. "We have twenty minutes left before lessons start."

* * *

><p>I know that animals in the magical world are a lot smarter than others. So I shouldn't have been too shocked when I walked into my dorm at lunch, to find LBP and Speedy looking like they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't. Then I noticed all the tiny cat outfits surrounding them that had been torn to shreds by what looked like cat claws.<p>

I knew that the two cats had bonded slightly, but I didn't realise it had been over a mutual hate for Holly's favourite hobby.

Pausing to take in the scene, I decided that Speedy had had enough torture for a lifetime.

"Oh screw it." I said, running over to the area dedicated to dressing up animals to their doom. "I'm doing this for you Speedy." Tearing up a Paddington Bear costume I found, I added "And saving you from a scarring experience LBP."

It was actually kind of good for stress relief, I noted. At least I'd have an excuse. Hopefully Holly wouldn't realise I helped the cats in there evil plan.

Oh god, look at me. I was helping an animal get revenge. I seemed to be challenging Holly for who can be crazier these days.

Snapping out of my hormone induced haze, I looked up to see Rose staring in amusement from the door.

"I'm not going to ask." She chuckled. "But if I were you, I'd leave quickly. Holly has nearly finished lunch." She walked over to her bed, picked up a book, and turned to leave. Me following right behind her, until we reached the doorway. Turning to face the cats, I noticed a slight smug look on Speedy's face. Weird felines.

"If anyone asks, I wasn't here."

Walking down to the Common Room, I saw Rose settled in near the fireplace, reading the book she'd picked up.

_Well she's not going to be good company for a few hours._

Looking around, I found Al and Lily sat at a table out the way, with their heads together whispering. I was curious, so decided to interrupt them. I never did believe curiosity killed the cat. I mean, look at LBP and Speedy. They're not dead.

"'Sup Potters." Dropping down into the chair next to Lily, they both jumped apart, like they hadn't realised I was so close to them.

Of course, I'd obviously interrupted a serious conversation, as an awkward silence kicked in. Wasn't expecting that.

"Amy?" Lily started. Al seemed to be glaring at her. "Oh stop glaring at me Al, this is Amy, she's not going to run around telling anyone."

Al grumbled under his breath before leaning back in his chair. There was only one thing he wouldn't want to talk to anyone about who wasn't a blood relative. And that was anything that would hurt his immediate family.

"Amy?" Lily repeated. "Has Jack mentioned anything about why James was in St Mungo's yesterday? What about Rose and Dom?"

"Nope." I said, my heart starting to pound. This was too close for comfort for me. "But the paper said that he was visiting a close family friend right?"

Al sat back up in his seat. "Exactly. We wrote home to see who it was. We were worried you see. Mum and Dad both wrote back to say that no one was ireally/i in hospital, and that we shouldn't tell anyone who wasn't family."

"But Amy is trustworthy." Lily whispered back to Al. Turning back to me, she added "James is obviously hiding something from us, and our parents know what it is." She looked worried. "We just want to know that everything's okay."

My heart went out to Lily. She was one of the kindest people I knew, and I hated lying to her. I also felt bad for Al. Having been really close friends for the last five and a half years, it felt wrong to be lying to him now.

"I'm sure if your parents aren't worried, then everything's okay." I said, feeling guilty. Standing up, "I have to go, and don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Al nodded his thanks as I walked away.

Feeling like the bad guy.

"Can I talk to you?"

Aiden was standing next to me, with a look on his face that showed he was controlling his emotions. Uh oh.

"Sure." I went to sit down in the closest chair I could find, but was stopped by Aiden saying "Not here."

He turned and walked up to his dorm, leaving me to follow after him. "Well?" I said when we'd closed the door behind us.

He didn't say anything, just held up this morning's paper with the article on James on the front page. After a confused look from me, he decided to speak.

"James Potter. In St Mungo's. I was covering for you yesterday, so I should know that you were there too."

Shit.

"So?" I acted innocent, though I'm sure he could see the recognition in my eyes.

"Oh come on Ames, you're not the best liar in the world. It's James isn't it?" He said anger evident, though this time not aimed at me.

I nodded stiffly, sick of trying to fool him.

"That piece of….." He said muttering profanities. "His best friend's sister? Taking advantage, never thought he had it in him."

"Can you give him the benefit of the doubt." I begged, trying not to get him too riled up.

"Benefit of the doubt?" He whispered furiously. "Ames…."

"We're going out." Ah well, no reason now to start beating round the bush. "He's been there, he's stepping up."

He hesitated, before saying "I don't like it."

"Try not to hit him where it hurts yeah?"

"I can't promise that."

* * *

><p>"And Potter has the quaffle, the Ravenclaw chasers trying to catch up, but they're no match for Potter's speed and skill."<p>

The second match of the year for Gryffindor was not exactly going smoothly. Aside from the fact that their Quidditch team was a lot better than Hufflepuffs, the Ravenclaws seemed to be getting revenge for a few grudges they had against Gryffindor. Mainly one.

Jason wasn't playing fair, like he normally did. Going for cheap shots and ways to hurt our team, he seemed to have found a way for everyone on the Ravenclaw team to help.

"Potter scores, just as Davies flies into Swann with intent to collide. That's a foul if I've ever seen one."

The boos chorusing from the red and gold part of the crowd was deafening. Most of the players were already covered in cuts and bruises.

"They're all mad." I said, horrified by how the match was going. We all watched as Wood took the penalty awarded and scored. "Why are they all acting up so badly?"

"Wood makes the penalty, meaning the score is now forty thirty to Gryffindor."

"You know the Ravenclaw team will back up Davies, and the Gryffindor team will back the chasers." Rose said, watching Radley whack a bludger, aiming directly for Dom's head.

"Well aimed bludger heading for the Gryffindor Keeper, but hit skilfully towards one of the Ravenclaw team by Weasley."

We managed to see Dom mouth the words 'Thank you' at Weasley, who grinned as he flew past. The other bludger was moving on the other side of the pitch, between Rafa Stewart, the Gryffindor Beater, and the other Ravenclaw Beater called Everett.

"Both Stewart and Everett are heading to the lone bludger. But Everett's destination is not the Quidditch ball. Everett locks handles with Stewart, sending the Gryffindor flying. Foul Ref!"

But Madam Hooch didn't see the foul, due to Jason scoring at the other end of the pitch.

"Davies is playing so dirty." Rose fumed.

"Who cares, it's only Quidditch." Holly droned, clearly in a mood.

"Only Quidditch!" Rose yelled grabbing the attention of all the people surrounding us. "ONLY QUIDDITCH!"

"Yeah." Holly didn't sound even the least bit intimidated. "Speedy and LBP destroyed all my costumes." She said glumly. "Now I have nothing to dress them in." The Crowd roared in the background, showing someone had scored.

Rose raised her eyebrow at me, remembering my help in the matter. "Amy do you think its _only Quidditch_?"

The look in her eyes was easy to decipher.

_Agree with me or I tell Holly you helped the cats in their mission._

"Go Quidditch." I said weakly. "Whoo!" Rose shook her head at my pitiful addition, but turned back to the game anyway.

"Davies gets the quaffle from Ford again and flies to the hoops. The cheating bastard scores once more. SORRY PROFESSOR!"

It wasn't a good commentary unless Hugo Weasley, who commentated, got at least one death glare from Professor McGonagall. The crowd laughed, except for the Ravenclaws who were glowering at the commentator's box.

"Albus Potter is speeding off, hopefully he's seen the snitch so we can end this physical abuse. He's diving, the Ravenclaw seeker trying to keep up. Potter stretches and…YES! Gryffindor win 200-50."

The crowd were screaming with approval, the Gryffindor team hugging each other as they flew to the ground. Jason flew over to Radley, and seemed to be screaming at him, grabbing his bat and showing him how to hit. I would hazard a guess that he was upset.

I'd never seen such a violent game of Quidditch, and having spent my last six years watching Gryffindor and Slytherin matches, that was saying something.

What was worse was that the main instigator was my ex boyfriend. And the other people joining in were mainly my brother and James. Testosterone levels were definitely high at that moment.

Shoving, kicking, punching and pulling were all happening a hundred feet in the air. It had been terrifying.

Luckily the game was over though, so I was being forced to relax by Rose, who seemed to have taken the role of 'Annoying fake healer' in this messed up story I was living in. Constantly whispering in my ear that stress can't be good. Like I didn't know that already.

So with everyone either celebrating or commiserating and my friends being irritating gits, no one else saw the bat fly out from no where, aimed right for the back of James' skull.

"LOOK OUT!" I yelled.

Everyone in our box turned to see where I was pointing, but everything happened too quickly to do anything about it. A sickening thud echoed around the pitch as the bat met it's target. James fell forwards onto the floor, not moving.

My breathing rate picked up, as I started to hyperventilate.

Looking at the Ravenclaw beaters, I saw that Everett still had his bat in his hand, and Radley was still floating in the air next to Jason, with a look of shock on his face. Jason's was a different matter.

With a smug smile on his face, he flew down to the ground away from Radley, leaving him to take the blame.

A number of teachers were running forward to where James was, while Madam Hooch was yelling for Radley to get on the ground. Shakily, he did as he was told.

"Come on." Rose said, worry etched on her face. "Let's go down." Holly followed me and Rose out the box.

"Amy," Rose said as we approached the bottom of the stairs. "You need to sort yourself out!"

Through my panic, I didn't understand what she meant. "Wh..what?"

"As far as anyone else is concerned, you shouldn't care this much." she stated, trying to downplay her own worry, so I didn't get worked up anymore. "So calm down, before other people find out about you two, or you hurt your daughter. Holly take her back to the dorm."

Rose rushed off to the pitch where the rest of her family were gathering. Walking off in the direction of the castle, I was able to see from a distance all the other students leaving and a huge crowd of James' friends, family, and teachers standing where he fell. Across the pitch, McGonagall and Hooch were yelling at Radley.

James was lying hurt, and I wasn't able to see if he was okay.

**A/N: OH NO! James is hurt. I do love my cliffies.**

**If for some reason you didn't hate Jason Davies before, I'm guessing you do now :P Throwing a bat hard at James, and letting his beater take the blame.**

**I'd like to thank all the readers who have reviewed so far. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. The higher the reviews, the quicker I like to write.**

**Which is why I like to reward you with Sneak peeks :P**

_"Is he okay?" I said, tears falling down my face. "I need to see him." I stood ready to leave, but Rose moved in the way of the door._

_"Move Rose." I growled._

_"You go down to the hospital wing now," she said calmly. "And your relationship will be found out quicker than you can say 'Have you met my new boyfriend?'. His siblings and his friends, including your brother, are with him at the moment."_

_"I don't care." I said, "Let them find out. James wanted me to tell Jack anyway."_

_"I think that James wanted you to tell him when you were _ready_ to." Rose argued. "You know that when James is better, you'll regret it, because you're not ready. You're still lying to some of your friends. Why would you be ready to tell Jack?"_

_I ignored the very reasonable argument that Rose put forward. As true as it was, I wasn't going to wait until he was out of the hospital wing._

_Rose seemed to realise where exactly my thoughts were, because she added "Look, can you wait a few hours?" When I looked curious, she said "I swiped this from Al's stuff just now." She pulled out what looked like a normal cloak from her bag. "You can see him after curfew."_

_"I could wait until curfew." I agreed, grudgingly. "But how is a random cloak going to help me?"_

**Tada!**

**nmegirl**


	40. My Stress is Not Good for My Condition

Pacing in one's dormitory is not good stress relief.

Not to mention it annoys your friends.

"Can you please stop pacing?" Holly begged. "You're making me dizzy."

"Stop Pacing?" I shrieked. "If I stop pacing, it will allow me to think over everything that happened this morning, making me panic, which will make me stressed, which is bad for the baby. If I stop pacing, there's nothing stopping me from sprinting down to the hospital wing. You want me to stop pacing? Really?"

"Sorry I asked." Holly mumbled.

It had been hours. Hours since Jason had thrown a beater's bat at the back of James' skull. Hours since I'd last seen Rose run off to see if he was okay. I dropped onto my bed, and held my head in my hands. My eyes started to well up. It was torture waiting around to know if someone you loved was going to be alright.

Wait, love? Did I really just think that?

I took the time to think it over. I thought about him constantly. I missed him whenever he wasn't around. I pictured the future we could have, living in the big house with the white fence. And for the first time, I imagined walking down the aisle, and seeing James at the other end.

_I think I love him._

I was broken out of my thoughts by Rose and Dom walking into the room. Neither looked particularly happy.

"Is he okay?" I said, tears falling down my face. "I need to see him." I stood ready to leave, but Rose moved in the way of the door.

"Move Rose." I growled.

"You go down to the hospital wing now," she said calmly. "And your relationship will be found out quicker than you can say 'Have you met my new boyfriend?'. His siblings and his friends, including your brother, are with him at the moment."

"I don't care." I said, "Let them find out. James wanted me to tell Jack anyway."

"I think that James wanted you to tell him when you were_ ready_ to." Rose argued. "You know that when James is better, you'll regret it, because you're not ready. You're still lying to some of your friends. Why would you be ready to tell Jack?"

I ignored the very reasonable argument that Rose put forward. As true as it was, I wasn't going to wait until he was out of the hospital wing.

Rose seemed to realise where exactly my thoughts were, because she added "Look, can you wait a few hours?" When I looked curious, she said "I swiped this from Al's stuff just now." She pulled out what looked like a normal cloak from her bag. "You can see him after curfew."

"I could wait until curfew." I agreed, grudgingly. "But how is a random cloak going to help me?"

"Put it on." She replied, smiling at me. I pulled it around my shoulders, and span around when I heard Holly gasp.

She stood up and came to stand next to me. "Your body just disappeared!" I looked down and saw exactly what she meant. From the neck down, I couldn't see any part of me. Which, with a abdomen the size of a watermelon, was a pretty mean feat.

"An Invisibility cloak?" I asked, in awe.

"It was Albus' dad's." Dom said, smirking at our reactions. "Good for mischief makers, and those doing things they shouldn't. Like going out after curfew." She winked at me.

"You'll have to be quiet," Rose added. "But they won't be able to see you if you make sure your head is covered as well."

I took off the cloak, folded it and placed it at the end of my bed. Wiping away the tears, I looked to both Dom and Rose for answers.

"How _is_ James?" I whispered quietly.

They looked at each other before Dom started explaining. "He's been better." she said, trying to think of how to explain. "His skull was cracked at the back, and he was unconscious for a while, but Pomfrey was able to heal him up. He's been awake the last hour or so. We thought it best not to overcrowd him."

I nodded, not knowing whether to sigh in relief, or worry until I'd seen him for myself. Rose could see the conflict I was facing, and came over to give me a hug. "He's going to be fine, Ames." She pulled back and smiled. "And you can see him soon."

* * *

><p>After running down the first corridor, and realising how much noise it would make, I made my way to the Hospital Wing by walking calmly. No matter how eager I was to get there. When I was almost to the Hospital Wing, I had to duck into the History of Magic classroom when I heard footsteps approaching. Thinking it was most likely Filch roaming the halls, I tried to keep the sound of my heavy breathing as quiet as I could. I didn't think Al would take too kindly to me getting his cloak confiscated, especially after Rose had nicked it without his permission. So I waiting until all was silent, before I carried on to my destination.<p>

The doors to the Hospital Wing were closed. I cringed when the door groaned as it opened, hoping that Madame Pomfrey wasn't woken up in her room. I did wake someone else up however.

"Who's there?"

There was no fear or hesitation in the voice, only curiosity. I recognised it instantly. Slipping into the room, I noticed he was in the only occupied bed, sat up and scanning the room.

"James." I whispered, getting his attention.

"Ames?" he replied, keeping it quiet. "Where are you?" Walking over, I took the cloak off from around me before sitting next to him and grabbing his hand in mine.

He looked amused as he said "Is that my dad's cloak?" When I nodded, he added "Does Al _know_ you got it?"

"No." I grinned. "And he won't have to. Rose is going to return it tomorrow." I looked him over in the small amount of light coming in the window. His head had a bandage wrapped around it, but other than that, there seemed to be no sign he was injured at all.

"How are you doing?"

"Massive headache, but I'm coping." He said, rubbing his head through the bandage. "Don't quite know what I did to Radley to deserve it though. Lily said it was _his_ bat."

I didn't know whether to tell James what I'd seen. People were obviously under the impression that Radley had lost it and attacked James in a crazy outburst after they lost the game.

_If it were you_, I thought, _you'd want to know what happened._

"It was Radley's bat," I started, grabbing his attention. "But it wasn't Radley who threw it."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "It wasn't?"

"Jason did it. Let Radley take the blame."

The surprise disappeared and was replaced with a mix between anger and annoyance. "Shouldn't be surprised, but he's certainly reached a new low."

I nodded in agreement. "I never thought he would ever do anything like that."

"Can't believe you ever went out with him." I hit his arm playfully, as he chuckled.

"How was I to know he'd turn violent." I squeezed his hand, more as a comfort to me rather than him. "How was your visit with your family?"

"Pretty uneventful." He shrugged. "The moment that Al realised I would be okay and that I was conscious, he said that I could congratulate him on his wonderful catch. It feels so good to know my family care about me so much."

I giggled, before sobering up quickly. "He was worried you know. We all were. I don't think I've ever seen someone run so fast in my entire life. Al was the first one to reach you."

I hated seeing him injured, even if he was going to be alright. My internal conversation I'd been having with myself in my dorm popped into my head.

_You love him. Why don't you tell him?_

Yeah right. Because it wouldn't be awkward if he didn't feel that way about me.

_Oh don't be such a coward._

To be honest conscience, you haven't exactly been much help up until now, what makes you think I'm going to listen to you.

"Ames?" James said. "You okay? You zoned out."

"I….." _Say it. SAY IT._ "I think I should let you get some sleep." He looked confused, but nodded hesitantly anyway, before leaning in to kiss me. On the way out, as I was pulling the cloak back on, my conscience couldn't resist one more jab.

_Are you sure you're a Gryffindor?_

* * *

><p>I was stuck.<p>

This morning, Rose was meant to take the cloak from the end of the bed, and sneak it back to Al's trunk while he was sleeping before she went to the library.

What I didn't count on was Rose going straight to the library and forgetting the former.

Holly walked in to the dorm while I was sat on my bed, the evidence in my hands.

"What's got your wand in a twist?" she asked, staring at me like I was criminally insane.

"I need to get this to Albus without him knowing I took it." I stated, trying to brainstorm for ideas. She didn't even hesitate before saying "I know how."

"Trust me Holly, when I want a ridiculous, insane and idiotic plan that won't work, I'm going to come to you." I ran a hand over my face. "Until then, I'm going to try and come up with a way to do it."

She shrugged. "I'll be waiting when you give up."

Several moments later, I sucked up my pride, and wandered over to her bed. "Providing it's not too out of this world, I'm willing to hear you out."

"Hear me out?" She said in amusement. "I much prefer to just act." Grabbing the cloak off my bed, she ran out the dormitory before I was able to react.

"Not again." I grumbled, chasing after her. I ran behind her all the way to Al's dorm. Due to the fact that he was still asleep, She then proceeded to jump onto his bed. Superman style.

"Ow Gerroff me" He mumbled, pushing her off the bed.

"Wake up idiot." She answered. "I have something to give back to you." Opening his eyes, he reached for his glasses on his bedside table. Once he could see properly, his eyes widened at the item in her hand.

"That's my cloak!" He said. "It was in my trunk. Did you take it?" The accusing look in his eye didn't even faze Holly in the slightest.

"Well of course I did. Did you seriously think I'd go haunting first years without being invisible? Do you think 'Boo' would be quite as affective if they could see me? Well? WELL?"

Al sat with his mouth wide open, not knowing quite what to say in response.

"I would've been a joke, the firsties would never know my wrath. DID YOU WANT ME TO BE A JOKE ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER?"

The shout caught him off guard, and he ended up stuttering. "Ummm….I..I ….No it's just….y..y…."

She then pretended to faint. Why it was necessary I'll never know. We both stared at where she fell. I was seriously worried for her mental health.

Opening her eyes, she asked "We all good?"

"Dare I say no?"

She jumped up smiling, saying "Thanks Al." before skipping out his dorm. The grunts from all the other beds in his dorm clearly stated that the others had been woken up by Holly's shouts, and they weren't too happy about it.

"I'm gunna go." I said awkwardly.

"I think that's best." Al yawned. "She needs someone to watch her twenty four seven."

* * *

><p>After another night in the hospital wing, and a lot of moaning on James' part, Madam Pomfrey had finally relented and allowed him to leave. A few cheers and a small round of applause greeted him as he walked in through the portrait hall with Jack, Weasley, and Wood. With grins all around, Jack started to make a path through all of James' adoring fans. Sadly one wouldn't move.<p>

"Jimmy!" Veronicas squealed. Again, who keeps letting that girl in our common room? It had been so quiet as far as she was concerned, that I had thought she'd been eaten by the Giant Squid. Well, more like hoped, but there's still time.

I scowled at my parchment to the girls' amusement, and ended up writing so hard that I made a hole in it.

Would anyone_ really_ notice if I hexed her face?

"Yes Ames." Rose chuckled. "They'd notice, not to mention wonder why you did it." Did I say that out loud? My bad.

"Did you get my gifts?" She giggled, trying to stroke his arm. I snapped the quill I was holding.

"Of course he did Hastings." Weasley said, pulling James straight past her. "He just loved the chocolate frogs you sent to the hospital wing."

"And the Liquorice Wands." Jack smirked.

"He was so grateful for the Skiving snack box." Weasley added, taking his turn.

"He adored the Pot Plant."

"And he couldn't get enough of the singing balloons." Wood laughed. James sighed as he dropped onto the sofa by the fire.

"I think we get it guys." He said, resting his feet on the table. The comments from James' friends didn't deter Veronica though, and she rushed to get the seat next to him before Weasley could sit in it.

"So I know Valentine's Day is just under a month away," She said, making all the boys groan around her. She glared at the three friends, before turning back to James. "But I wanted to beat the rush and ask if you wanted to like, get together for the Hogsmeade trip." When he didn't look instantly thrilled like she expected him too, she added "A bunch of guys have already asked me, but you know, if you wanted to…."

"Thanks for asking." He replied, looking like he wanted to say something entirely different, but his mother obviously taught him better. "But I'm already going with someone."

Anger clouded her eyes as she threw a hissy fit. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen, even calming down enough to fix my quill with my wand.

"But I asked you a month in advance!" She whined, stamping her foot.

"She asked sooner. Sorry." Though he didn't sound it.

Veronica looked like she was about to blow. I didn't know whether to laugh or dive for cover. I'd just do the opposite of whatever Holly decided to do. That way, it would be the right decision. She let out a frustrated scream, before marching out the portrait hole. But not before she took off one of her heels and threw it across the room.

_Because that's the way to get a guy you like to ask you out._

"It's nice to know things are nearly back to normal." Dom said, with a smile on her face. We all grinned in agreement, turning back to our homework as if the last few minutes didn't happen.

* * *

><p>"So James just told us that his cousin Louis saw Davies chuck the bat, not Radley." Jack said putting down a card on top of the pile.<p>

Jack, Aiden and I were sat around in the Charms classroom, having some family time. It was after the last class of the day, but before dinner would start. The guys were playing exploding snap while I sat and watched.

Aiden dropped the card he was holding, and looked surprised. "Davies?" He asked. "Never thought he had it in him to do some actual physical harm." He placed a five of clubs on top of the five Jack just put down, and yelled "Snap!", making the cards explode in Jack's face.

I couldn't contain the giggle that wanted to escape, especially when I saw Jack looking shocked, with one of his eyebrows smoking.

He poked me playfully before saying "If you find it so funny, why don't _you_ play a game?"

"No thanks, I'm good." I smiled. All three of us hadn't been this comfortable around each other since before Aiden had told us he was gay at the Hog's Head. It was good to know we were back on good terms, especially now Aiden had grown a lot closer to me and Jack.

"I got to run soon." Aiden stated, dealing the cards out for one more game between them. "I have to meet someone."

"Is it a date?" I asked, joking around. When the tips of his ears burnt red, and he avoided my eyes, my mouth fell open into a comical 'O'.

"It _is_ a date!" I realised, the corners of my mouth twitching, trying not to embarrass him any more than was necessary.

"It's not a date." He replied, looking back and forward to me and Jack trying to gage our reactions. Jack just sat with his eyebrows raised. "I'm just meeting up with him in the library to study."

I gave up trying not to embarrass him, the moment was too perfect. "Study eh?" I winked and nudged his arm, causing the redness to spread from his ears to his cheeks.

"Leave him alone Ames." Jack chuckled, for once being the one not to joke around. He turned to Aiden. "Do we know the guy?"

"I don't think so." He said, still not making eye contact. "He's a sixth year in Ravenclaw, Anthony Vetton?"

"Oh I know him! He was in my Divination class last year." I mentioned. "He's gay?"

Aiden nodded. "Yeah, we were talking about how hard it was deciding when to tell the family, comparing stories and such."

"Well what are you waiting for?" I asked. "go meet him!" He gave a shy smile as he gathered the cards together and put them in his pocket, before standing and walking to the door.

"Hey Aiden?" Jack called. Aiden turned at the door, to look straight at him.

"Am I still allowed to use the phrase 'Get in there'?" His face went bright red, mumbling as he left the room.

"Now who's being mean?" I sighed, watching Jack laugh in response. I leaned back on the table I was sitting on, stretching my back. "So Jack, any girls that catch _your_ eye?" I asked, looking straight up at the ceiling. I waited for a few seconds but there was no response. Looking towards him in confusion, I realised that he had a cold guarded look in his eye, and that his face seemed frozen in place.

_What had I done?_, I thought.

And then I followed his eyes to what he was staring daggers at. Looking down, my heart skipped a beat.

When I had leaned back, My school robes had fallen open, exposing my very obvious and prominent baby bump.

_Oh Shit._

**A/N: I'm thinking this was a chapter that a lot of people were waiting for :P**

**Jack knows she's pregnant! The next chapter is going to be intense will it not?**

**With a cliffy like that, I'd be mean if I didn't let you see a small slice of the next chapter.**

_"What. Is. That?" He said through clenched teeth. I'd never seen him so angry. He looked like he was about to hurt someone, and in that moment, I'd never been so afraid in my entire life. Not when I found out I was responsible for another human being. Not when I had to tell James_. Why did everything dramatic have to happen in this classroom?

_"What_ Bastard _knocked you up?" he whispered menacingly. I just stood still. There was no way I could tell him. All the mental images of Jack killing James I'd had in the past few weeks all came flying back, only they seemed a lot more serious. James never got back up this time, like someone would in cartoons. And Jack was a lot more frightening._

_"Tell me who the fuck he is, Amy!" Jack yelled, anger rolling off him. I started to shake._ This wasn't happening, This wasn't happening.

_"I SWEAR TO GOD, I'LL GET JAMES TO HELP ME HURT HIM!"_

**I hope time passes quickly : )**

**nmegirl**


	41. My Brother's Acting Like I Knew he Would

I quickly pulled my robes back over my stomach, but it was too late. He'd already noticed. His face was less of the red I was used to when he was angry, and now a dark shade of purple, like he was about to explode.

"What. Is. That?" He said through clenched teeth. I'd never seen him so angry. He looked like he was about to hurt someone, and in that moment, I'd never been so afraid in my entire life. Not when I found out I was responsible for another human being. Not when I had to tell James. _Why did everything dramatic have to happen in this classroom?_

"What _Bastard_ knocked you up?" he whispered menacingly. I just stood still. There was no way I could tell him. All the mental images of Jack killing James I'd had in the past few weeks all came flying back, only they seemed a lot more serious. James never got back up this time, like someone would in cartoons. And Jack was a lot more frightening.

"Tell me who the fuck he is, Amy!" Jack yelled, anger rolling off him. I started to shake. _This wasn't happening, This wasn't happening_.

"I SWEAR TO GOD, I'LL GET JAMES TO HELP ME HURT HIM!"

I flinched, small enough to usually go unnoticed. But Jack saw it. _Oh God_.

He froze. His face darkening, and the look of murder in his eyes doubled. I had no doubt in that moment, that he was going to cause a lot of physical pain.

"Jack?" I whimpered, tears rolling down my face. My voice broke him out of his trance-like state.

"It's James" He didn't ask. It was a statement. "That day. He was in St Mungo's. He was with you wasn't he?" And then he started walking in the direction of the door.

"Oh god no!" I stood in between him and the door, to try and stop him. By this point, I was sobbing hard. To me, my life was falling apart. I use to be stronger than this. I use to be able to argue my way in any situation, but apparently pregnancy has screwed me up, and now I cry at everything.

"You can't hurt him" I cried. "Without hurting me. You love me enough not to do that, right?"

"I'm not gunna hurt him." He said calmly. Too calmly. "I'M GUNNA BLOODY KILL HIM!"

He pushed me out of the way and stormed out the classroom door. I ran after him, yelling at him to stop, but he didn't listen. He had one destination. The seventh year boys dormitories.

We must have been a sight on the way to the Gryffindor Common room. Jack striding down the corridor in fury, with me bawling my eyes out running after him. I grabbed onto his arm as we approached the fat lady, but he just pulled his arm out of my grasp, and climbed through the portrait hole. By the time I had also climbed through, he was jogging up the boy's staircase.

I ran up the stairs and into the dormitory, before looking around at the room.

Jack was standing in the doorway, glaring menacingly at James, who was looking at my brother in confusion. Both Fred and Sean were lying on their respective beds, looking up as Jack had walked into the room. When James saw me over Jack's shoulder in tears, his face changed from confusion to understanding.

"You know."

Two simple words. They had the ability to coax another batch of tears from me, Jacks face to go a deeper purple, and both Weasley and Wood to look to each other in bemusement.

"You fucked my sister."

James quietly put the Quidditch magazine he was reading down, and stood in the middle of the dorm, facing Jack.

"It wasn't something I planned." He said calmly. "It just happened. I wouldn't have done something like that to you. You're like a brother to me."

My heart broke. I actually thought he cared about me. I let myself believe he felt more than that. _Stupid pregnant delusion idiot._ He looked up and saw my face behind Jack. It must have reflected the emotions I was feeling, as I was too hurt to control facial expressions. The next part, gave me more optimism.

"But I'm glad it did. I've never been so happy, apart from keeping it all from you of course. And I'd like to think she feels the same." He looked straight at me.

"I've fallen in love."

This time, I felt my hopes go up. My heart stuttered, my breathing rate increased. I stared straight back at James, a smile creeping its way onto my tear-stained face.

Jack continued to glare at James before saying "You fucked my sister, and then knocked her up you bastard!"

His fist went flying towards James' face, before anyone could react. By the time I had screamed, and Fred and Sean had leapt up to run and pull Jack back, he'd already got three or four good punches in. James wasn't fighting back, probably thinking he deserved it, or that he would be doing the same, if someone had gotten Lily pregnant.

"Stop it!" I shrieked, trying to get Jack's attention away from punching and kicking any part of James he could reach. "Leave him alone!"

Every time Sean and Fred tried to pull Jack off, he pushed them away, and carried on. I ran forward and pulled on his arm again.

I don't know if it was an accident, or if he thought that either Weasley or Wood were trying to stop him again.

His fist flew back and hit me in the face, knocking me back and making me fall over. I think everyone in the room heard the resounding crack, as his hand came into contact with my cheek.

James looked up from the ground, his face covered in blood, dark patches forming that would turn into bruises and the beginnings of a black eye starting to appear. He saw me on the floor and looked up at Jack, who was horrified by the fact he had hit his own sister. Then James started to fight back.

By this point, Fred had come over to where I was, and started checking to see if I was ok. His eyes widened when he saw my bump, as my robes had fallen open again, but didn't say anything about it. He kept glancing over to the fight with a anxious look in his eye. James was now the one with anger in his eyes, and had moved around in the room, so he was between me and Jack. Sean was a statue as he watched the fight reverse, James was now the one getting the punches in.

"ENOUGH!"

Sean had the most common sense out of all five of us, and had put up a shield between them, so Jack and him were on one side, and James, Fred and I were opposite, closer to the door. Both James and my brother were glaring at each other, but kept looking out the corners of their eyes towards me, both worried.

The adrenaline had worn off, and I was now starting to feel the pain in my face. My eyes watered, and I concentrated on not letting the pain show.

"This is stupid. you're meant to be friends."

"Son of a Bitch should've thought about that before screwing my sister!"

"It takes two, Jack." I replied, wincing as the movement sent pain through me.

James looked physically pained as he looked towards me. I gave him a look that said I was fine. He wasn't fooled for a second. _Damn it_.

Sean took charge of the situation. "Fred, take those two down to the hospital wing. I'll follow later with Jack."

James helped me up, and as we walked out of the dorm, I heard Jack whisper "I didn't mean to hurt you, Ames."

* * *

><p>"How exactly did you do this again?" Madam Pomfrey asked, examining my cheek. James was standing by my side, even though his injuries were clearly worse, but he insisted I was seen to first. Madam Pomfrey had stopped telling him to stay on his bed ages ago, seeing as he wouldn't leave me alone.<p>

"Fell down the stairs." I lied, shifting in my seat from the intense scrutiny I was under. She gave me a look of disbelief.

"Well you've fractured your cheekbone." She said. James' jaw tightened. "But it's easily fixed so you won't have to stay the night." She pointed her wand at my cheek and said "_Episkey_". She then gave me a potion to bring down the swelling. I thanked god that I wouldn't have to change into one of those hospital gowns. I don't think they make them for pregnant girls in schools.

"Right then Mr Potter," She started. "Dare I ask you to sit on your bed now?" He smirked, causing himself to wince, before walking over to his cubicle, with me tailing behind him. "And how did you get _your_ injuries?"

Once again, he grinned. "Isn't it obvious?" he answered. "Fell down the stairs as well."

She made a noise of frustration as I tried to contain my giggles. _Not the right time._

"Of course you did." She said sarcastically. "I can already tell that your going to need more than one spell to heal you up. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see you again before you graduate."

"Please Pomfrey." He said, as she used '_Tergeo_' to get rid of the blood on his face. "This is me you're talking about, and I still have the Quidditch match against Slytherin to play."

As she healed his cuts, she replied "One can hope Mr Potter."

The door to the hospital wing opened. Jack, Sean and Fred, who had been waiting outside, walked in and made their way to the other side of the room. Jack glaring murderously at James the whole time.

Madam Pomfrey was clearly looking at both parties, and had seen the look pass between Jack and James. Along with the fact I was standing by his bedside, I'm guessing she could put the whole scenario together.

Frowning, she turned back to us, but didn't say anything. She silently healed his black eye, and after several minutes, he was completely healed. Handing him the same potion I had for swelling, we both turned to leave. During the short walk to the door, I could feel my brother's eyes burning into my back.

"Let me guess," we heard Madam Pomfrey say. "You fell down the stairs?"

* * *

><p>"Did you really mean that?" I asked, breaking the silence we had as we walked back to the Gryffindor Common room.<p>

"Mean what?" James responded, a confused look on his face.

"What you said. In your dorm."

His expression cleared up when realisation crossed his mind. "Yeah." He said, looking straight ahead. A shy smile was creeping onto my face. "I did."

"And you weren't just saying it? To make Jack less angry?" I said, doubt forming.

He sighed, before turning my way and gently pushing me up against the wall. I looked up and down the corridor to make sure that no one was around, but James didn't seem to care.

"I love you." He said, honesty written on his face, and voice steady.

"Good." I managed to say.

James raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Good?"

"Yeah." I whispered. "'cause I love you too. And it would be annoying if you didn't love me back." I smirked, as he let out a warm laugh.

Pressing his lips to mine, I sighed in response. When Jason had me against the wall after the detention, I felt claustrophobic, scared and on edge. With James, it was exactly the opposite reaction.

I felt safe. I felt protected. And I felt loved.

He broke the kiss and pulled back, smirking when I whimpered at the space he put between us.

"Someone might see us." He said.

Still missing the pressure on my lips, I responded in an annoyed tone. "Do I look like I care right now?" Chuckling, he held my hand and pulled me in the direction to the kitchens.

All the way down, he kept stopping when the halls were empty, and pulling me close for a quick make out session. Not that I was complaining.

When he tickled the pear by the entrance, he lead me in after him.

"Hey Sushi." He said, as the excited house elf ran to greet us. "Can you get us two hot chocolates please?" He turned to me. "Do you want anything else?"

"Umm I don't think so." I said before changing my mind. "Actually can I have some pizza please? Ooh and some olives. Can I have some shrimp as well? And a jar of peanut butter please."

James was looking at me like I'd hit my head too hard. "Is that all?"

"You're right it's missing something." I answered. "I know, raisins please." Sushi bowed before running to get our order.

"Pizza, olives, shrimp, peanut butter and raisins?" He looked disgusted. "Have you destroyed your taste buds?"

"No." I said, looking affronted. "It's what I'm craving idiot." He shook his head, as if to say 'what am I going to do with you?', before sitting down at one of the tables.

"So how come we're down here?" I asked, my curiosity burning.

"I wanted to talk to you."

What did he want to talk about? Was he changing his mind about us? Since Jack clearly didn't approve. Even if he didn't know I was pregnant, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be happy that his best mate was shacking up with his sister.

"Jack knows now, so I wanted to know how you'd feel about going public."

"Like telling a few friends?" I asked.

He ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up, but as if it had been styled. "Well, it would be a lot more people than that." He looked sheepish. "We've been dating in secret, so you don't know the lifestyle that us Potters have to deal with. As soon as the rest of Hogwarts find out, it'll be in the papers next day. Just because they're not allowed to take pictures of us in Hogwarts, doesn't mean that they won't try when we're out."

"So what are you saying?" I said, confused.

"That it's up to you." he explained. "But as soon as we do tell, you'll be in the spotlight with us. And what they write isn't always nice." He put a hand on my cheek, and stroked where it was still swollen. "I'll try to protect you from the worst of it, but I can't guarantee anything."

I took the hand that was on my face, and held it in mine. "I'm ready if you are."

A breathtaking smile overtook all other emotions that were on his face. The smile alone made all the doubts about my future disappear.

"I'm definitely ready." He grinned. "We'll stop hiding it tomorrow. That gives us today to have a bit of peace and quiet." I nodded. Sushi came back with our hot chocolates and my food, asked us if there was anything else we wanted, before scurrying away.

I was digging into the feast I'd ordered, when I finally let myself think over Jack's reaction. I should be grateful that he wanted to look after me, but all I really wanted was for him to support any decisions I make. To be the one to let me cry on his shoulder, not the one who _made_ me cry.

"Are you okay?"

James' question broke me out of my thoughts. "Huh?"

"You look upset." He stated. "Are you changing your mind about going public? 'Cause you don't have to…"

"No." I said, not wanting to give the wrong impression. "It's…." I sighed, pausing for a moment. "It's Jack. I knew that he wouldn't be happy about it, but I was hoping that I was wrong. I wanted him to be okay with it."

"Same." he whispered. For the first time all day, I could see how this was affecting him. He'd most likely just lost his best friend. And I was the cause.

"I'm sorry."

His head snapped up. "What for?"

"For ruining your friendship. For messing up your life. You didn't need any of that, especially in your NEWT year." I answered, feeling guilty.

"Stop it." He said firmly, as if daring me to argue some more. "I knew that if I wanted to get involved with you it would affect me and Jack. But I still went ahead, because you're worth it."

* * *

><p>Getting ready for bed that night, everyone was in complete silence. Even Holly, which was surprising. Having told all the girls what exactly happened, and that Jack now knew, they had spent the last hour telling me everything would be okay.<p>

_Not that I believed it for a second, mind._

After I'd pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top, that finished half way up my bump, I was broken out of my bedtime routine by a knock on the door. Glancing around the dorm to see if anyone else was expecting anyone, I realised that they all had expressions of surprise on their faces as well.

Pulling on my school robes over my nightwear, I opened the door to find James standing there with a pillow, blanket, toothbrush and a change of clothes in his hand.

"Hey" he said, nervously running his hands through his hair. "Any chance I can sleep on your floor? Jack has decided that I'm not welcome in our dorm anymore. The other guys tried to argue, but I'd rather not make him any angrier."

"Sure." I agreed, without missing a beat. "Come on in." He walked in through the door, allowing me to close it behind him.

Holly came out of the bathroom, and when she saw James standing in the middle of the room she started yelling "Boy! Boy in the dorm!"

"We know Holly." I said in a bored tone, as she dived into her bed.

"I have to make myself decent!" She said, hiding under her duvet.

"You're already fully dressed." I replied, giving her a weird look.

"Well I might not have been."

"Ignore her." I whispered to James, making him smile. "Bathroom's that way." I pointed to the room Holly had just left. He thanked me, dropped the pillow and blanket on my bed, then made his way to the door on the opposite side of the room with his toothbrush.

"How come the boyfriend is here?" Holly asked bluntly.

I made sure my voice was loud enough so Rose and Dom could hear. "He's going to be sleeping here tonight." I said, hoping that no one would mind. I hoped it was obvious in my tone that he _needed_ to sleep here tonight.

Holly shrugged, got changed and climbed into bed before James came out of the bathroom. I knew Holly wouldn't mind. I could threaten to slap her around the face with a fish, and she'd probably just cheer me on.

Dom whispered "Jack giving him a hard time?" I nodded in response, making both Rose and Dom sigh before doing the same as Holly.

When James was finished in the bathroom, he came out and walked over to my bed, allowing me to go in and brush my teeth. When I came back, all three of the girls had closed the curtains around their beds, and James had made up a bed on the floor using the blanket and pillow he had brought with him. The change of clothes for tomorrow were on top of my trunk, along with the trousers and T-shirt he'd worn when he arrived.

"You don't have to sleep on the floor you know." I said, climbing into my bed. "I'm sure there's enough room in this bed for both of us."

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah come on." He stood up, but as he went to climb in my bed, I added with a smirk "But you have to turn the light off."

He shook his head, but chuckled and put the candles out using his wand. I moved over as he slid into the bed behind me. He pulled me back closer to him, and tucked his legs next to mine. I turned my head to give him a kiss goodnight, but what was meant to be a quick peck ended up being something much longer. We tried to keep the noise down, but obviously we didn't try hard enough.

"Alright. I have no problem with James sleeping over," Holly yelled from her bed. "But if you two start making sex noises, I'm going to be really pissed off."

Rose and Dom burst into laughter, whereas I pulled away and blushed. James smirked at me, and gave me one more peck before resting his head on my pillow, and placing one of his hands on my stomach.

"Night Ames."

"Goodnight James."

All was quiet until James said one last thing.

"Goodnight Baby."

**A/N: Jack officially knows everything! Mwahahaha**

**I know a lot of readers have been waiting for this bit of the story, and I hope it lived up to your expectations.**

**Did you think he'd react this way? Or did you think that he would have reacted better than Aiden? Can James and Jack repair the friendship?**

**Shall I give you a sneak peak? I don't know, this has been a rather eventful chapter :S**

**Oh go on then :P**

_"I want you to stop seeing him." Jack scowled._

_"Well that's not going to happen." I snapped back. "Who do you think you are telling me what I can and cannot do?"_

_Jack grinded his teeth together. "Is that what this is about?" He said. "Doing something because I told you not to?"_

_"NO!" I yelled, not having to worry about people overhearing. "He's kind, considerate, he cares about my feelings and HE LOVES ME. He's perfect, but to you, he's still not good enough for your little sister."_

_"Can you hear yourself?" He sneered. "That guy took advantage of you when you were drunk, knocked you up and you think you're in love with him."_

_"Can you hear_ yourself_?" I replied coldly. "Last week he was your best friend James. Now he's 'that guy'."_

_"LAST WEEK I DIDN'T KNOW HE'D SLEPT WITH MY SISTER."_

**Tension. I like it : )**

**If you review, I'll send you a telepathic Mexican wave.**

**nmegirl**


	42. My Relationship is Now Public

_JAMES' POV_

The next morning, when I woke up, I had forgotten everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. I didn't pay a second thought to the fact that the light was coming in from the opposite side of the room than was normal, or that I was wrapped around something giving off warmth. I just pulled the inviting object closer, and pressed my head further into my pillow.

Except it wasn't my pillow, because the events of yesterday came rushing back to me.

I wasn't in my bed, because I'd been kicked out of my dorm. And I wasn't in my dorm, because Jack knew about me and Amy.

Jack knew.

I groaned, the sound being muffled by the pillow, and the object next to me stirred. I lifted my head, and opened my eyes to see Amy sleeping peacefully, curled into the foetal position, with a hand resting on her bump.

How I wished that this moment could have happened in different circumstances. It was perfect. Except for the fact that my best friend now hated me. Hate probably wasn't strong enough to describe what Jack felt for me. Disgust, anger, loathing. And most of all, betrayal.

I didn't think this was a friendship that could be fixed.

Rolling onto my side, so that Amy was lying directly in front of me, I reached over to place my hand on hers. The one that was placed on her stomach. I didn't want my daughter to be born into all this drama, although what with her being a Potter, a little bit of excitement is a necessity in life.

What was the saying? When Life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Sure. Except for the fact that Life _hadn't_ given me lemons, life had just squirted the lemon juice straight in my eye for laughs.

Amy stirred again, only this time she opened her eyes after stretching. Turning towards me, she gave me a heart melting smile, that made me forget all the problems I had once more.

"Morning." She grinned, turning the rest of her body over so that we were facing each other. She then tucked her head into my neck.

"Morning." I replied, kissing the top of her head. She looked so radiant, that for the first time, I understood what all the books said about a pregnancy glow.

She groaned after a while, and said "What time is it?"

Looking in the direction of her clock, I responded "Seven." She mumbled something I couldn't hear before swinging her legs off the side of her bed, and walking to the bathroom.

"Why did you get up?" I asked, only noticing now that the other three were also getting up and picking out clothes.

"Seven's when we always get ready for school." Rose smirked. "You sound surprised?"

"Well yeah." I said, staring in confusion at the busy room around me, "We don't get up until quarter to eight."

"What!" The girls all shouted. Even Amy popped her head out the door, still cleaning her teeth, to give me a look of shock.

"How do you get ready so quickly?" Dom whispered, as if it was a taboo subject.

"Quick shower, throw some clothes on." I chuckled. "It really doesn't take long." I stood up out of bed, and almost laughed at Holly, who covered her eyes with her hands.

"You're naked." She gasped. "Give a girl some warning."

"I'm not naked." I objected. "I'm wearing boxers." Amy walked out of the bathroom, smirked at Holly's reaction, before she carried on getting ready. I grabbed my clothes and a towel which Amy had given me, and headed to the bathroom after her. Before I closed the door all the way, I heard Amy say "He's gone Hols. You can look now."

Five minutes later, after cleaning, drying and pulling my uniform on, I walked back out into the dorm.

"Everything's a lot cleaner in your room." I stated.

"Everything smells better too" Rose smiled. I was about to protest when I heard Amy cursing.

"This is getting ridiculous." She mumbled, trying to pull her school jumper down, but not managing to get it past her belly button. "Stretch you stupid jumper." I pulled mine off, and held it out for her.

"Wanna wear mine?"

She stared at it for a few moments, before smiling and accepting it off me. "Thank you. But what are you going to wear?"

"I'll go pick another one up from my dorm." I said. Amy looked worried so I added "It'll be fine, I'll be in and out really quickly."

"Is that what he said to you the night of the party?" Holly grinned, making Amy blush hard, and the others laugh loudly.

I had a feeling that it wasn't one of the last jokes we'd get.

* * *

><p>Standing outside my dorm, I gathered up all my Gryffindor courage and pushed open the door.<p>

Surprisingly, Fred, Sean and Jack were already up. I'm guessing that nobody got much sleep last night. Whereas Fred and Sean both seemed relieved to see me, Jack's grip instantly tightened on the book he was putting into his schoolbag.

"I thought I told you that you weren't welcome here." Jack whispered menacingly. If looks could kill, I'd be nothing but ashes on the ground.

"I needed to get something." I said calmly, trying not to make Jack any angrier than he already was.

Jack stood up, walked over and pushed me backwards. "You can pack the rest of your fucking stuff while you're there." He said just as calmly, but with a dangerous edge to it. "Anything that's still here after dinner this evening gets destroyed." He turned to leave.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you….."

"You're sorry that you didn't tell me?" He laughed mockingly. "You didn't say that you were sorry that it happened though."

"I'm not sorry it happened." I replied.

"Was she drunk?" He shouted. "Was she offering herself to you? Could you just not control yourself? I'm guessing it's because she was forbidden fruit right?"

"It wasn't like I took advantage….."

"OF COURSE YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE! WE HAD A PACT POTTER!" He yelled, getting in my face. "WE LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER'S SISTERS, NOT SHAG THEM! Maybe you'd see it my way if I went and knocked up Lily."

"Leave Lily out of this." My voice turned cold. "I was drunk, I didn't mean for it to happen and I know I was in the wrong. I know it's not an excuse…."

"You're damn right it's not an excuse." He growled. "Not only did you shag her, but you got her pregnant as well. You've ruined her life, I hope you know that!"

I deflated at that. I knew that I'd messed up, and I knew that I'd probably dashed all her hopes that she'd had for her future. I didn't need Jack to throw it all in my face.

"She's already showing." He carried on his rant. "Which meant this had to have happened months ago, and yet not once did either of you even drop a hint." Underneath all the anger, I could hear a slight amount of another emotion. Hurt.

"Can you blame me?" I responded. "I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"Too late." He punched me right across the face, making me stumble, and left the dorm. Form outside the door, I heard Jack yell "You coming?"

Sean got up from his bed and gave me a sympathetic smile. "I guess me and Fred are going to be split in between you both." He thumped my back in support before leaving after Jack.

Lifting my hand to gently touch my bruising cheek, I winced.

"You two need to sort things out." Fred spoke from his bed. "Me and Sean don't want to be running back and forward all the time."

"Trust me" I said, "If I knew how to fix this, I would."

Fred scratched his head, before replying "I'm sure he's kidding about destroying all your stuff though."

"You think?" I asked knowing exactly what his answer would be.

There was no strong conviction, but Fred looked slightly sheepish. "Couldn't hurt to move your stuff just to be safe right?" After I nodded, he said "I've got a free straight after breakfast, you want me to move your stuff somewhere?"

"Thanks." I mumbled. "For not judging me, or turning against me."

"I'm your cousin." He grinned. "You know if I ever had to choose, it would be you."

"I hope you don't have to." I sighed. I walked over to my trunk, and pulled out another of my school jumpers.

As I pulled it on, Fred asked "So you're gunna be a dad?"

"Yep." I said, and even though the tension in my life was thick enough to cut with a knife, I couldn't help the slightly proud look form on my face. "I'm going to have a daughter."

"I'm guessing you're happy then?" He said, looking for answers.

"Did you think I was lying yesterday when I said I loved her?"

He paused, before replying "Just because you love her doesn't necessarily mean that you're happy with your situation."

"I'm very happy." I responded. "I've already planned to look after the baby when Amy has to go back to Hogwarts in September."

"As long as you're happy, that's all that counts." He said. "So tell me, where am I taking all your stuff?"

"The Gryffindor Sixth year Girl's dorm."

* * *

><p><em>AMY'S POV<em>

After James had left the room, I put his jumper on, satisfied when it was able to cover my bump. After finishing my make up, I realised just what I had agreed on for today.

Going public.

Although, there were always articles in papers and magazines trying to make the Potters look bad, and others who were jealous of their unwanted fame and fortune, the majority of the wizarding world loved them. They were practically royalty, seeing as the wizarding world had none.

There would be a lot of people quick to judge me. Whether because I was dating a Potter, or because _they_ wanted to date a Potter.

Not to mention that if the papers knew I was pregnant, it would be considered one of the biggest scandals of our generation.

"Stop Worrying." Rose said, noticing how deep in thought I was. "The only difference between dating in secret and dating in public, is that you don't have to hide it. You'll be fine."

Breathing in and out to calm my suddenly racing heart, the door opened and James walked in. A big red mark had spread across his right cheek.

"What the…" I walked over to him to get a closer look at the damage. When I reached up, he grabbed my hands and pulled them away from his face.

"It's nothing." He said, putting a false smile on his face. "Jack just didn't quite get it all out of his system yesterday."

Dom, Holly and Rose all went down to breakfast together, leaving us both alone.

"You sure you want to do this?" He asked, looking for any hesitation from my part. "I want to make sure that you're ready."

"Positive." I responded, making sure to smile so that he'd accept my answer. After a few moments, he nodded. I pulled on my school robe, and we walked out the dorm together.

The nerves kicked in half way down the staircase, as I waited for one of the girls' dormitory doors to open and see us. But none of them did. Walking into the Common Room, No one even noticed we were there until we were halfway to the portrait hole. A third year was looking up from his conversation to scan the room, and did a double take when he saw James Potter holding my hand. The speed at which he turned to his neighbour and started whispering had to be record breaking.

"And so it begins." James whispered in my ear, having seen the same thing as me. "Come on." He pulled me out into the corridor, and we made our way down to breakfast through a number of hidden passageways.

Which meant we were standing outside the entrance to the Great Hall sooner than I thought. Taking a deep breath, James turned to grin at me, before walking into the room.

I didn't know what I expected. I think I thought that as soon as I walked into the hall, I'd would have been met by silence. But I wasn't. Due to the number of people who walked in and out of that door everyday, no one paid attention to the two new people entering. People only started noticing, after we sat down at the table. The reaction was like wildfire. First, it was the other Gryffindors sat next to us, who gawped, stuttered and passed on their new discovery. This soon became The whole of the Gryffindor table, which eventually made the other three houses wonder just what exactly was happening. I was actually wishing that it was complete silence. The staring and whispering was a bit unnerving.

"Ignore them." James said, reaching over for the muesli and pouring it into my bowl. He then proceeded to pour the exact same thing into his bowl.

"You don't have to eat that just because I am." It was harder to ignore than I thought, I could feel the hundreds of eyes burning into my back. "I won't judge."

"I wouldn't be a very good boyfriend if I didn't, would I?" He smirked, making sure not to mention anything to do with the pregnancy. Which was a good choice, because as soon as James said the word 'boyfriend', it sent a new wave of whispers through our audience.

Stage one of going public. Complete.

* * *

><p>The moment I had been dreading had finally happened. Ever since Jack found out, I had been waiting for Jack to blow up at me as well, though I wasn't sure which version I would have preferred.<p>

Jack yelling at me for sleeping with his best friend. Jack yelling at me for getting pregnant. Jack yelling at me for not telling him.

I had been leaving breakfast, and James had left to get our bags from my dorm, when Jack had cornered me in the corridor where I was waiting.

"We need to talk." He growled, pulling me in the direction he was walking in. Needing the protection of witnesses, I said "Can't we talk here?"

"You _want_ me to talk here?" He mumbled coldly, letting me know that what he was about to say was not for public ears.

I knew exactly where he was taking me. The Room of Requirement. But I wasn't going to tell him that because he'd know _exactly_ who had brought me here.

When the door had closed, he let rip.

"What was that downstairs?" He spat. "Everyone thinks you're together now."

"We _are_ together." I defended, but he wasn't finished.

"He's a Potter! The whole world cares about what he does in his spare time, who he dates!" He argued. "You'll be in the papers tomorrow you know that right?"

"He let me decide if I wanted to go public. He's already told me how hard it is in the spotlight." There was a pause before he spoke again.

"I want you to stop seeing him." Jack scowled.

"Well that's not going to happen." I snapped back. "Who do you think you are telling me what I can and cannot do?"

Jack grinded his teeth together. "Is that what this is about?" He said. "Doing something because I told you not to?"

"NO!" I yelled, not having to worry about people overhearing. "He's kind, considerate, he cares about my feelings and HE LOVES ME. He's perfect, but to you, he's still not good enough for your little sister."

"Can you hear yourself?" He sneered. "That guy took advantage of you when you were drunk, knocked you up and you think you're in love with him."

"Can you hear _yourself_?" I replied coldly. "Last week he was your best friend James. Now he's 'that guy'."

"LAST WEEK I DIDN'T KNOW HE'D SLEPT WITH MY SISTER."

"I'm done talking to you." I said, turning to leave. "I'm happy. I don't need you to tell me what a mess I've made of my life." I walked out the door, not even looking back once.

When I had left, I realised that the only thing keeping me from being completely happy, was Jack's approval.

I walked off back to where I was meeting James.

* * *

><p>"So….." Al said, from where he was stood next to me in Herbology.<p>

"So…." I replied back. I didn't think things would turn awkward, when he found out me and his brother were 'getting it on' as Holly had said at the start of the lesson.

"You're going out with my brother."

"Yep."

We sat awkwardly as we waited for our partners to come back. He hesitated, before saying "How long?"

"Umm since this morning?" I looked confused. Surely he knew people started talking about it today.

He shook is head with a slight look of amusement. "I meant how long have you been _together_? It's obviously been a while."

"How come…."

"How come I know?" Al grinned. "I know my brother Ames. There's no way he'd go public with anyone unless he was crazy about them. A relationship for him would get a lot of hassle from people."

"Tell me about it." I whispered. He laughed at my response.

"Come on then, what have people said to you so far?"

I thought over people's opinions. "There was a seventh year Hufflepuff who asked what spells I'd used to hoodwink James, a Gryffindor girl who asked me what it's like to be a famous girlfriend, and a couple of second years who introduced themselves to me, and told me that if I ever needed help to call them. They're twelve, Al! I'm more likely to help them."

"People are funny." He grinned once again. "So how long?"

"It's complicated, I'd say we'd been dating secretly since the end of October." He whistled.

"And not even a whiff to his brother." He said." Me and James will be having words." I could hear the joke in his statement.

Holly and Rose came back from getting the plants we needed, Holly juggling her cat and a shrub.

"Why did you bring Speedy to lesson again?" I asked.

"He needed air!" she defended.

"So you brought him to a greenhouse where we have to feed flesh eating shrubs?"

She shrugged, putting Speedy down on her chair. The cat looked terrified. I didn't know whether it was because he was in close proximity with a carnivorous plant or the fact Holly had dressed him as Captain Jack Sparrow. I'm gunna go with the former, he should be use to dressing up by now.

After throwing loads of steaks into the pot plant, and stroking a cowering Speedy, we left for the Common Room at the end of the lesson. But Speedy had to leg it as soon as he could.

And so we'd lost sight of Speedy. Again.

Now, being five months pregnant, running isn't exactly an easy task. So with Holly and Al in front, and me bringing up the rear, we started to chase Speedy in the direction we thought he'd gone in.

After a few corners, I'd resorted to walking and breathing heavily. From ahead, I heard Holly shout "Speedy Gonzales, where the bloody hell are you?". Eventually, I managed to catch up with them, but only due to the fact that they'd stopped in the middle of the corridor. Normally, Al would have at least raised an eyebrow at the fact I was so 'unfit', but his concentration was focused on something in front of him. The same thing that both Holly, and surprisingly Speedy, were staring at.

A white fluffy cat, one of those that would look right at home in an evil guy's arms as he plotted taking over the world, was sat looking at Speedy, frozen in place. And he was wearing an outfit.

"Holly did you start dressing up random cats now?" I groaned, thinking about the reaction of it's owner.

"I didn't dress that one up." She protested, as if I'd said the most absurd thing in the world. Along behind the cat, came a tall brunette guy huffing and puffing with a look of relief in his eyes.

"There you are Tweety Pie." He said, sighing after he scooped the white fluff ball into his arms. "Who's your friend?" He looked directly at Speedy.

"Speedy Gonzales." Holly said, looking proud of the name.

The boy smirked. "You named your cat after a very fast Mexican mouse?"

"You named your cat after a bird with a speech impediment?" Holly replied, in defence to her choice of name.

He shrugged, before looking Speedy up and down. "Is he meant to be a pirate? Nice job." Holly blushed slightly before adding "Good Indiana Jones Outfit."

"Oh God, there's two of them." I whispered to Al, horrified. Al was currently doing his best impression of a goldfish.

"I like Apple Pie!" Holly blurted out. I gaped, looking at Holly liked she needed to be locked up. There is no way that this guy would think she was normal. He's probably already thinking…..

"I like Apple Pie with custard!" He yelled back. "And I like nuts!"

"I like nuts on ice cream!" She responded, with a small smile forming. I nudged Holly very subtly, getting her attention from the yelling match.

"Umm Holly?" I started, wondering how to phrase my statement. "You're allergic to nuts." She twitched her nose in confusion, before reality dawned on her face.

"My bad!" She screeched back at him. "I'm allergic to nuts, so I'll just look at them on my ice cream!"

"I'll eat your nuts then!"

"You can't _have_ my nuts!"

I put my palm on my face in confusion. "Oh dear lord! They're not going to shut up are they?" I looked to Al for a reply, but all he could manage was a shake of his head. Al didn't seem to be very good in shocking moments. Let's hope that if another dark wizard comes, Albus Potter isn't the one who has to defeat him.

"But if you don't eat the nuts, they're going to go to waste!" The guy looked alarmed that no one would eat the imaginary nuts they were talking about. I think both Holly and this guy's brains must have been addled at some point.

Both cats didn't even look scared at the exchange, but more like they were used to scenes like this being made. I pitied them both.

"Well…" Holly took time to think before saying "MY NAME IS HOLLY!"

"ADAM!" He shouted back. "IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU!"

"RIGHT BACK AT YOU!" Grabbing her arm, I hauled her away. No offence to either of them, but if they shouted anything else, I was going to have to get them checked at St Mungo's.

Al picked up Speedy, and ran after us. When we reached the Common Room, we all dropped into our seats, Holly smiling, and me and Al scarred for life.

"Well he seemed nice." She stated, leaning forward to stroke Speedy on the floor.

"He seemed mental." Al grumbled, kicking his legs up onto the table in front.

"As much as we love you Holly" I said, "I don't think we could take two of you."

Two Hollys? I don't even think Voldemort could stand it.

A/N: **What do you think of Adam? And Amy and James going public?**

**The number of times that a reviewer mentions something in one of their reviews, that I've already written in a future chapter is scary. I think you're all reading my mind, it's quite freaky.**

**Sneak Peek!**

_"Anything?" I asked, pushing James off the bed as he tried to snuggle in closer._

_"Not yet." Rose replied, scanning the Daily Prophet. "Nothing even mentioning a Potter or a potential girlfriend."_

_"Well you never know," I smirked when I saw James' annoyed expression on the floor. "They may have decided that the story just isn't that interesting."_

_James, Rose and Dom all looked at each other before bursting into laughter._

_"What's so funny?" Holly grumbled from her bed, sticking her head through her curtains like a dog. Someone woke up in a bad mood._

_"Amy is." Dom chuckled, trying to control her laughter. "Of course it would be interesting. James has been listed as 'Bachelor of the year' twice since becoming a teenager…."_

_"Three times actually, according to my adoring fans." James grinned, which I felt warranted the pillow I then threw at him._

_Dom sighed. "Okay, three times, and not once has a girlfriend ever been mentioned. So this would be big news for the witches that don't_ have_ a life."_

_"Which is actually surprising high." Rose added._

**If you review, I'll send good thoughts your way. I like good thoughts.**

**nmegirl**


	43. My Enemies are Good at Ranting

"OW!"

Whoever shouted is going to die an extremely painful death. Maybe involving ninjas. I'm sure I could find some willing to help.

"Shut up!" I yelled into my pillow, James moving closer in response. Whoever had shouted to begin with was now muttering profanities, and cursing to the cat gods. No guess who it was then.

Lifting my head in confusion, I saw Holly hopping up and down like a mad person.

"What are you doing?"

"I was walking to the bathroom, and _that_ was in my way." She glared at the offensive object. James' trunk.

"So just walk around it." I said, giggling slightly when James' hand brushed a particularly ticklish part of my stomach, making him grin.

"Walk around it? WALK AROUND IT?"

Everyone in the dormitory winced. Rose whispered in response.

"No need to shout Hols."

"I've walked to that bathroom every day for nearly six years, and not once have I had any problems." She ranted. "And James just happened to put his trunk in the exact spot that my left foot goes on my journey."

"You're not going on a trip Holly, it's just the bathroom." I mumbled, James now kissing every part of my face, except the part I wanted him to kiss most.

"Yeah, quit the OCD." James smirked, before returning to his mission of finding everywhere else I was ticklish.

"I motion that the trunk should be moved." Holly said in hysterics.

Dom grinned before saying "Motion declined."

Holly let out a shriek before diving into her bed and drawing the curtains. "I'm going back to sleep. When I wake up it will be a good day." She then proceeded to chant it all over and over again.

Distracted by Holly's dramatic moment, I didn't notice that James' hands had come to my sides. Gasping in shock, they slowly turned to giggles as he didn't relent.

"You know James, if she doesn't breath, it can't be good for the baby." Rose shouted from her bed. James stopped immediately.

_Baby, I sure will miss you as leverage when you're born._

"Fine then." James responded, and settled for just kissing me. My hands went to his birds nest which he calls hair, while his were rested on my sides. I tried to stifle a moan, when his tongue entered my mouth.

Obviously not well enough.

"Oh God! They're having sex again!" Holly screamed from inside her curtains. "Can one of you please stop James from humping her leg."

"Oh shut up!" I snapped, getting more annoyed as James chuckled behind me. He wasn't the only one either. The other two were laughing just as much.

A pecking noise came from the window, where a tawny owl, was stood, waiting to be let in. Rose always ordered the Daily Prophet to come early, so she could read it in bed. I sat up, as she went to take the newspaper off the owl. James tried to pull me back down, but I just gave him a quick peck on the lips, before turning back to where Rose had started reading.

"Anything?" I asked, pushing James off the bed as he tried to snuggle in closer.

"Not yet." Rose replied, scanning the Daily Prophet. "Nothing even mentioning a Potter or a potential girlfriend."

"Well you never know," I smirked when I saw James' annoyed expression on the floor. "They may have decided that the story just isn't that interesting."

James, Rose and Dom all looked at each other before bursting into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Holly grumbled from her bed, sticking her head through her curtains like a dog. Someone woke up in a bad mood.

"Amy is." Dom chuckled, trying to control her laughter. "Of course it would be interesting. James has been listed as 'Bachelor of the year' twice since becoming a teenager…."

"Three times actually, according to my adoring fans." James grinned, which I felt warranted the pillow I then threw at him.

Dom sighed. "Okay, three times, and not once has a girlfriend ever been mentioned. So this would be big news for the witches that don't _have_ a life."

"Which is actually surprising high." Rose added.

"Trust us when we say that it will most likely be front page news." James smiled, pulling himself back onto the bed.

Dom sighed when she looked at the clock. "Seven O'clock. Time to get up." We all groaned, except for James who was happily lying on my bed, and started to gather our things to get ready.

"OW!"

"Trunk?" I asked Holly, smirking.

"If you loved me, you'd tell him to move it" Holly whined from where she was still hopping about in pain.

"Nuhuh." James shook his head from the bed. "She loves me more anyway!"

"No way, I'm the one she loves most!" She protested.

I sighed. "Are they really arguing about what I think they're arguing about?"

"Yep." Dom laughed. "You must feel really popular right now."

* * *

><p>"So you're writing to Mum?" Aiden asked, as I went searching for Missy in the Owlery. She wasn't in mine or Aiden's dorm, and I had to get him to check Jack's. Therefore the only logical place to find her would be here.<p>

"Uhuh."

"To tell her what?" He asked.

"That I'm going out with James, before she has to read it in the paper. I'm lucky it's not in there yet." I said, looking higher in my search for Missy.

"And the other stuff? Stuff that she probably should have known as soon as you did?"

"I can't." I whispered. "Not yet." Finally spotting her next to a Snowy owl near one of the windows, I called her down.

When she landed on my arm, I turned to Aiden. "Jack knows."

He looked shocked. "What, everything?" I nodded, leading Aiden to let out a long whistle. "How did he take it?"

"Not well." I unrolled the parchment I had written my letter on. I decided to reread it before I sent it off.

_To Mum,_

_I'm sorry I haven't written that often again. I feel like I'm not keeping you as informed as I used to. But I'm writing now so you're included in everything that's happened since Christmas._

_Aiden's doing fine. Dare I say that there might even be a love interest in the future? I hope so, Aiden really deserves someone._

_Jack. Jack is as overprotective as ever. Maybe even worse than before. But that's more to do with my news than anything else._

"What did he do?" Aiden asked, breaking me out of the letter.

"Threw some punches, Shouted a lot. It's Jack, what do you think happened?" I turned back to my letter.

_I'm dating a guy. You know him. James Potter, Jack's best friend. So I guess you know why Jack isn't happy. I think that I've ruined their friendship for life, and I feel so guilty. Not only that, but we've gone public, so it'll probably be in the papers soon. I'm surprised it wasn't in today's._

_I'm really happy, and he's perfect for me. I hope that you can support my decision, and help Jack be okay with it. I really need my family right now._

_Lots of love._

_Ames xxx_

"Missy, can you deliver this to Mum for me?" The owl hooted in response, before taking off out the window.

"To be honest," Aiden said, making me turn around from the window. "The thing I had the most difficulty with was the _fact_ that you were pregnant. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wanted to cause pain to the guy that knocked you up, but I was more worried about how you'd do it. You know, bring up a kid, finish learning and all that."

"Well you would focus on that, it wasn't _your_ best friend."

Aiden shuddered. "And I'm glad it wasn't. That would be awkward."

We started laughing together, but was cut off by another voice.

"You knew?"

Looking to the door, my heart stopped once more. Jack was stood there with a look of betrayal on his face, and a letter in his hand.

"Who are you people?" He said in disbelief, hurt clearly showing in his voice. "I don't think I even know you anymore! You knew Aiden? Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Amy didn't want to tell you just yet." He said, a guilty expression on his face.

"I can understand that if it was just some guy she liked, but this is big Aid." Hurt turning to anger. "Were you both just never going to tell me? Wait until it pops out, and hide it from me?"

"I was gunna tell you…." I started, but Jack cut me off.

"Who else knows?" Jack muttered, hiding the oncoming storm.

"Holly was first." I said. "Rose and Dom found out, and I told James and Aiden." Jack pushed Aiden right into the wall, holding onto his collar.

"Let him go!"

"I trusted you." Jack said menacingly, right in Aiden's face. "We're family, does it mean nothing anymore." Dropping him back on the ground, Jack stormed out, saying "Is there no one I can trust at the moment?"

Aiden massaged his neck, as he straightened up. "No wonder you didn't want him finding out." I didn't respond, making him carry on. "I'm sorry, we shouldn't have been talking about it so openly. Anyone could have overheard, we're lucky it was Jack in a way."

"It's my fault." I finally replied. "I shouldn't have kept everyone in the dark so long."

* * *

><p>Now, being good in Potions is not always a good thing. Because teachers think that you can handle the, slightly dumber, of the class.<p>

"Miss Hastings, if you can't stop nattering with Miss Retton long enough to put the right amount of armadillo bile in your potion, I'll just split you up and put you with other partners."

Please not with me. Please not with me.

"Okay let's see who will be your new partners for the rest of this lesson."

Not me. Not me. Not me. Not me. Not me.

"Mr Potter and Miss Swann are more than capable. Go pair yourselves up."

Thank you Professor Grayson. Thank you indeed. My life is now complete. And just which of the two did I get?

Veronica looked in our direction, smirked in an evil way before walking up to us. "Come on Potter." She said. "Nicole's waiting for you on our table."

My life officially sucks.

Al stood, gathered his stuff, and then walked over to Nicole's table with hesitation in his step. Veronica dropped into the empty space next to me.

We started the potion in silence, though it didn't take long for Veronica to break it.

"So…" She started, keeping me on the edge by taking her time. "You and Jamsie." I didn't reply, not sure what she wanted me to say, but refusing to give a reaction.

"It won't last you know."

I broke my promise to myself and turned to her. "Really? And why's that?" I said in a monotone voice.

"Because the press aren't going to be interested in you for long." She sneered. "You'll realise you can't live without being somebody and you'll say goodbye to Jamsie faster than Flint fails Potions. Then you'll go looking for fame all by yourself."

"Not all people want to be famous." I answered, realising that I seemed to be doing this potion all by myself. "So it's not going to be a problem."

"If that doesn't break you up, I certainly will." She smirked. "It won't be long until he realises what he can really have. Someone who's gorgeous, who looks like a model and can give him the time of his life. Not someone who piles on the pounds because they can't keep their hands off the carbs."

"What are you even talking about?" I asked, confused.

"You've gotten fatter since the beginning of the year. You can see it on your face." She answered, cutting up the crocodile heart and throwing it into the cauldron before giving me her undivided attention. "Maybe you should spend a bit more time looking in the mirror, and a little less time scoffing cakes and carbs."

I was in shock that she'd even noticed the weight I'd put on, but she seemed to think I was affected by her insults. She used my _supposed_ reaction to fuel her next words.

"I don't know what he sees in you, but I'm going to show him exactly what he's missing." She snapped. "You're a mess Swann."

She took the Bulbadox juice out of my hands, and poured it into the cauldron. When the potion turned to the right colour, she scooped up enough to fill a vial, and took it to the front of the room, leaving me standing in silence.

* * *

><p>Storming into the dorm, I slammed the door open, getting all the girls' attention.<p>

"MY FACE LOOKS FAT AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?" They didn't look scared. More like terrified. Holly in particular looked like she wanted to run away as fast as she could.

"Um…..I….." Dom stuttered.

"I HAD TO FIND OUT FROM VERONICA HASTINGS! Is it really that obvious?" The girls looked even more scared when I stopped shouting and went straight to upset.

"Ames, are you bi-polar?" Holly asked, even though Dom and Rose were frantically mouthing for her to shut up.

"NO!" I yelled. "I'M JUST STRESSED!" James walked in, took one look at me and turned to the others.

"Okay, who upset her this time?"

Shaking their heads, and denying any part in my mood, the girls all talked at the same time. No guessing who said which statement.

"I don't know what happened to her."

"Maybe her studies are getting her down."

"It's not my fault she's so fat."

All turning to Holly, she looked defensive. "What? It's not!" He sighed before grabbing my hand and dragging me out the room with him.

"I've got Quidditch practice, but you can sit in the stands and wait for me if you want." I nodded, agreeing to his plan. "Wait here, I'll be right back out."

James stopped outside the dorm, and walked back in. After a few minutes, he returned with his broomstick and Quidditch robes, and left to go through the secret passageway and down the boys' staircase. Leaving me to meet him at the bottom.

After walking down to the pitch together, I couldn't avoid the stares that followed me, leaning into James' body for moral support. He walked me up to the stands before kissing me, and walking back down to the changing room where his team mates were waiting.

"You watching the practice as well?"

I jumped, realising that James had sat me right next to another girl without me even noticing.

"Umm yeah." I answered, feeling awkward.

"You don't know me do you?" She asked, amusement playing in her voice.

"Sorry, but I recognise you from around school" I said, feeling bad for not knowing who she was.

"Don't worry." She said, smiling in a friendly way. "I'm in a different house and year to you, so it's cool. We should have met a lot earlier though."

"We should have?" Confusion on my face.

"Yeah." She laughed. "I'm Emily Harris, Sean Wood's girlfriend. Like I said, normally all the girlfriends meet a lot earlier, but I guess it was unavoidable in your case."

"Oh." I muttered, seeing the Gryffindor team exit the changing rooms from a distance. "You must really hate me."

"Hate you?" she questioned. "How come?"

"For breaking them up." I replied. "It can't be easy for Sean, having to run back and forth between both Jack and James."

"He's coping, but it's not your fault." Emily said, placing an arm around my shoulder for support. "You can't help who you fall in love with."

Emily was beautiful. Nobody could deny that. With long brown hair, and pale skin, she looked like a porcelain doll. Her matching brown eyes only made her prettier, and she had sharp angelic features on her face. But the sharpness of her cheekbones didn't make her look unfriendly. They just gave her a regal look.

When the team were fully visible, I frowned. "Where's…."

"Jack?" She finished. "Not here, he's still up in his dormitory."

"But he loves Quidditch!" I proclaimed.

"He's making a stand." She said, looking to where Sean had risen into the air. "And you can see why, James looks really hurt."

Looking to where James was now hovering, it was clear that he was trying hard to cover the emotions on his face. He obviously didn't think Jack would skip Quidditch.

"Actually it's a good thing." Emily added. "If he were to see you in the stands, cheering James on, I don't think he'd be able to stop himself from another beating. From what I hear, James didn't look too good after the last one."

"Jack had a black eye as well."

"I heard." She looked towards the left side of my face. "Is your cheek better?"

"You knew about that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Me and Sean don't have secrets. I think it's why we've lasted so long."

I looked towards Emily. "How long have you been seeing each other?" She grinned in response.

"Two years."

"Two years?" I said, shocked. "And I didn't know you were with Sean?" She shrugged, before cheering a good throw that Sean did.

"The boys know how to keep a private life. From papers and school friends. Apart from Fred, but he doesn't care what the wizarding world think. They all know he's a player, so why care what they think now he says."

"Has Jack had girlfriends I didn't know about?" I asked, smiling as James flew past, sending me a smirk.

"At least two serious girlfriends, not serious enough to tell the family though." She answered.

"What a hypocrite." I mumbled, but not quiet enough because Emily chuckled next to me.

"Hold on, what's happening there?" She frowned, looking to the ground. Looking down I saw a number of other players cross the pitch. Wearing green.

"And so Slytherin have joined the party." She stated. James, Sean and the rest of the team flew down to land in front of them. "I'm going down, you coming?"

We stood and walked down the stairs, arriving onto the pitch in minutes. By the time we were in hearing range, they were already in the middle of a full blown argument.

"…..can't just walk in and demand use of the pitch." James said, anger in his voice. "We're scheduled to be here right now."

"Well we have a match after Easter too, you know." Robert Flint, captain of the Slytherin team, sneered. "We have just as much right to be here."

"No you don't Flint." Sean stated calmly, though you could see he was agitated. "It's a pre-book kind of thing."

"Bet Potter doesn't have to _pre-book_." Flint laughed coldly, all the other Slytherin laughed along with him. "The World already bows at his feet."

"I went and booked the practice just like all the other houses." James added, getting wound up.

Flint's eyes left James' and flipped to mine, staring in my direction. "Wondered why your little fling hasn't appeared in the papers yet?" No one said anything.

"Turns out they wanted a few interviews, from people who '_know you_'." He grinned. "Just finished filling in my answers this morning. Shouldn't be too long until it's published right?"

The Slytherins burst into raucous laughter, before Flint shouted for them to leave. "Come on guys, let the losers have their practice. They're going to need it anyway, because they're down a Chaser."

Shooting a leering look in my direction once more, he lead his team off the pitch, leaving the Gryffindors to take in Flint's speech.

"Back to practice." James yelled, his face straining to hide his emotions.

**A/N: And so the fight between Jack and James continues. Sigh.**

**Veronica shows more of her evil side, and even though I've mentioned Flint once or twice before, we finally meet him.**

**Both have bigger roles :P**

**What did you think? And did you like Emily?**

**Quick. Look. Then.**

_"Holly!"_

_"If he doesn't shut up, I'm going to go out there and kill him with an Avada Kedavra curse." I grumbled._

_"Holly!"_

_"Trust me, a killing curse is too nice. Too quick. I say we torture him first." Dom snapped._

_"HOLLY!"_

_"SHE'S NOT BLOODY HERE!" Rose yelled at the portrait hole, making a couple of first years chuckle close to us._

_"You think that's funny?" Rose glared at the little children. I think one of them wet themselves. "How about you go out into the corridor and tell the crazy guy yelling 'Holly' to SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_

_One of the girls, clearly terrified of Rose, stood up shakily and walked out of the common room._

_"You didn't have to scare the firsties, Rose." I chuckled, ignoring the death glare that was then sent_ my _way._

_"The girl, who'd gone outside, ran back in and said "The guy said that he's not going anywhere until he's wooed the girl who wouldn't give him her nuts. Said he's got her a present too."_

_That got Dom's attention. "Oh a present? What is it?"_

_"I think he said something about apple pie?"_

**I guess a certain mental person is back next chapter :P**

**Thanks for all the reviews. What can I give you this time? I know, I'll send James to deliver a personal 'Thank you!' ;) but you can only have him for a limited amount of time, because sadly, he doesn't belong to me. Sigh.**

**nmegirl**


	44. My Nerves are Getting the Better of Me

Two Weeks. Two weeks since the Quidditch incident, and two weeks we had been waiting to see our relationship made public to the Wizarding world.

"I can't take it anymore." I whined. " I can't take the suspense any longer."

Everyone else in the room groaned, trying to sleep. Rose had hardly any energy to lift her head up off the pillow and say "Stop thinking about it. Just go back to sleep for an hour."

"I can't." I mumbled. "It's not that easy."

No response. I love how much my friends care. There was only one other person who was likely to wake up and keep me company.

"James." I whispered at the lump lying next to me. He grunted, and covered his ear with his hands.

"Can you stay up with me?"

"'m tired." He grumbled. I sighed.

"Fine." I rolled over, and swung my legs over the edge. "Me and Baby will go walking around the school by ourselves. Alone. Where anything could happen."

As if he was slapped, James' eyes snapped open and he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "'m up, I'm up!"

_I love manipulation._

"Thank you." I grinned, pulling on a pair of jeans with an elastic waist that I'd bought from the maternity shop in Hogmeade last term, and my school robe on over the top.

James pulled on a jumper he found in his trunk, as well as his school trousers that were lying around, and followed me out the room.

"So where are we going?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know." I answered. "Shall we explore?"

"My grandfather was a Marauder, I've already explored every inch of this castle." He said, forgetting that he was on the girl's staircase, and setting the charm off. I managed to step back before the stairs turned into a slide, but James didn't and went flying, with an expression of shock .

Giggling to myself I sat at the top of the new 'slide', slid down to the Common Room, and landed on top of James.

"Not funny." He muttered while I tried to control my laughter. It was only then that I realised the wailing noise had been set off by James setting foot on the girls' staircase, and that I could hear doors opening.

"We should…." James whispered.

"Go? Yeah good idea." I said, getting off James. We walked swiftly out the portrait hole, and down the corridor, me still laughing.

"It wasn't that funny." He pouted.

"The look on your face!" I giggled. "Priceless."

"Where are we going then?" He repeated, a lot more awake now.

"Astronomy Tower?" I said, waiting for James to agree or not. He thought about it before giving me his answer.

"Okay." He nodded. Pulling me in the right direction, he glanced down at the watch he had left on his arm when he fell asleep. "It's five o'clock Ames! Why are you still awake?"

"Nerves, I guess." I confessed, looking slightly guilty for waking him up. "It's been unnaturally quiet in the newspapers."

"It's a big story." He said, slight annoyance in his voice. "They're probably trying to word it right. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the wizarding world hears about it an hour after it's been published."

"I know, it's just…" I hesitated. "Flint can't have said anything good."

"Just forget about it." He answered, trying to distract me. "Don't worry about it until you have to. I actually have something that I want to ask you?"

"You do?" I looked at him curiously. "What?"

"I know it's way in advance, I understand if you say no, so don't feel like you have to."

"You're worrying me now," I said. "What is it?"

He breathed deeply before saying "Do you want to stay with me over Easter? And meet my family?"

"I already know your family" I smiled. "Al, Lily, Rose, Dom…."

"I meant my parents, my grandparents, the whole massive Weasley Potter clan." The smile fell off my face, so quickly that James must have thought I didn't want to. "You don't have to, I mean I know you go home at Easter, so you probably want to see your mum and….."

"No! I mean I'd love to, but…." I tried to phrase my biggest worry. "What if your parents don't like me?"

"That's what you're worried about?" He asked, grinning once more. "They'll love you, I've already written to them about you."

"You have?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "I actually think the thing that shocked them most was that I had written in the first place. Al's the one who writes home, not me. They both already know that I got a girl pregnant, but I told them who you were, what you were like, all good things I promise."

We had approached the Astronomy tower and started to climb the stairs. "What did they say?"

"Dad can sympathise." James said, pulling me closer as we reached the top. "Said he knows what it's like to fall in love with his best friend's sister." He frowned suddenly. "Dad managed to stay friends with Uncle Ron though."

He looked into the distance, over the walls of the castle and towards the forbidden forest. I could feel the mood drop significantly.

"Yes."

James' attention snapped back to me. "Huh?"

"I would like to spend the Easter holidays with you."

"You would?" James beamed, and I was happy that I was able to cheer him up so quickly, like I mattered to James in every way.

"I'd love to."

* * *

><p>Walking back to the dorm at six thirty, James seemed to have an extra spring in his step. Any worries I had could be put to one side, if this was the reaction that he seemed to have, just by me meeting his parents.<p>

"I'll meet you up there." He whispered in my ear, before taking the long way up the boys' staircase. Shaking my head at his grin, I jogged up to the dorm.

As soon as the door opened, everyone in the room looked to the door with sheepish looks on their faces. I felt like I'd walked in during a private conversation.

"What's going on?" I asked, making Dom chuckle nervously.

"Nothing." Rose said. "Nothing's going on. We're just talking about…umm…"

"PEACOCKS!" Holly shouted. "We were talking about peacocks."

"Nice one idiot." Dom glared. "Like she's going to believe that. Just for once can't you come up with a realistic story to lie with."

"We could have been talking about peacocks!" Holly defended. "I happen to find peacocks an excellent conversation starter."

"With who?" Rose replied, curiosity in her voice. Clearly they'd forgotten I was there.

"Speedy." Holly smirked, picking up the cat in question. Speedy stared daggers at her, and I'd like to say that it was just because she was Holly. Sadly, She was holding him by his tail, and he didn't like it so much.

"Did he just hiss at you?" Dom said in amusement.

"I think he did." Rose answered.

"Guys!" I yelled. "Let's get back to the fact you're all trying to cover something." All three jumped when I shouted, and the guilty looks appeared again.

"We're not trying to cover anything." Rose mumbled.

"Of course you're not. And Dom mentioning Holly's inability to lie well was just a coincidence."

"Fine." Dom shrugged, ignoring the head shakes from Rose. "So there's an interesting article in the paper this morning."

I froze. They'd only try to cover up a story if it was bad._ Really bad._

"Let me see it."

"No!" Holly shouted childishly. She leaped up from her bed, grabbed the Daily Prophet from under Rose's pillow and shoved it under her pyjama top.

"You know I'll go in there." I threatened, glaring in her direction.

"Oh yeah." she chuckled, pulling it back out and running to the bathroom. "I'll flush it away instead."

"Oh no you won't!" I chased after her, grabbing her arm, before she could leave the room. I pulled her back towards the middle of the dorm, Holly hardly struggling.

"This isn't fair!" She whined. "I'm not allowed to fight back because you're pregnant!"

"Give me the paper!"

"No."

"GIVE IT TO ME!"

"NO!"

"Am I interrupting?" James was leaning against the wall, a look of amusement plastered on his face. I used the distraction of his appearance to snatch the Daily Prophet out of Holly's hands.

"AHA!"

"Damn it!" She shouted, walking to her bed and dropping onto it. "Rookie mistake!"

I unfolded the crumpled newspaper and started to read the main article on the front cover.

_BACHELOR OF THE YEAR COVETED BY MYSTERY GIRL_

_By Phillipa Greenwood_

_James Potter, son of the boy who lived, has been rumoured to have found himself a potential girlfriend. According to valuable sources, the girl in question, a miss Amy Swann, is a bright girl who has particularly high grades in both Charms and Potions._

_"I wouldn't put it past her to have made a Love Potion." says sixteen year old Veronicas Hastings, a fellow student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "She's not particularly popular or pretty, so it's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with."_

_What with Potter's fame, fortune and good looks, we cannot rule out the possibility that Miss Swann is only dating the eldest son of Harry Potter for the attention that would come with it. And rumour has it that it's not only Miss Swann scheming within the relationship._

_"Amy Swann is the sister of Potter's friend, Jack." commented Robert Flint, a seventeen year old Quidditch player who also attends Hogwarts. "So Potter's hardly a loyal friend is he. It comes as no surprise that Potter and Swann's friendship is most likely beyond fixing."_

_I'm sure a lot of readers will agree with me when I say that this relationship is doomed from the beginning._

_Story continued on page 5._

"It's…."I whispered horrified. "How could they…"

"We know." Rose said sympathetically. "None of it's even remotely true, and of everyone who must've contacted the press, they went with those two interviews."

"Which, let's face it, were most likely the two interviews that put you in the worst light." Dom added. "That's probably why Phillipa Greenwood used them. She loves her drama, does Phillipa."

James walked over and took the paper out of my hands, so that he could read it. The further he got down the article, the redder his face got.

"See this is why I hate being a celebrity." He growled. "And I'm not even famous for anything _I've_ done."

"Oh god, everyone's read this haven't they?" I moaned.

Okay, it's official. I'm going to be stampeded by fan girls, either angry at me for taking away their beloved Jamsie's free will, or harassing me for tips.

"Well it could be worse." He said throwing the paper down in disgust. "I mean no one with a brain is going to believe Hasting's statement. For one, everyone can see that you're ten times prettier than she is, so that's a complete lie."

I tried to stop the smile from forming on my face. "Stop being so nice." I grumbled. "You're making it hard for me to stay angry." The others all chuckled at what I said.

"Can I burn it now?"

"Go ahead Holly, be my guest." I said in response.

* * *

><p>The only way to get over any upset you have in your life? Ice Cream.<p>

Seriously, me and all the girl's swear by it.

So we were currently sat in the Common Room, Rose and Dom trying to distract me from all the new stares I had been getting since this morning, and waiting for Holly to return from the kitchen with _a lot_ of ice cream. That is if she didn't eat it all on the way.

"Where did James go again?" Dom asked, shooing away a group of young students that had come towards us so that they could ask for my autograph. I'm not kidding, they were the second group that day.

"He went to hang out with Sean." I answered, my eyes closed, and head resting on the back of the sofa. "He hasn't really seen him much this past week."

"Holly!"

My head snapped up. "Did you guys here that?"

"Hear what?" Rose looked confused.

"Holly!"

"That!" I responded, looking around for the source of the noise.

"Is someone outside in the corridor?" Dom said, getting up and walking off to the portrait hole. She opened the passageway, before slamming it shut almost immediately.

"Everything alright Dom?" I asked, worried about Dom's actions.

"Holly!"

"Did you girls know that there's a boy sat cross-legged in the middle of the corridor outside?"

"What did he look like?" Rose said, trying to speak over the shouts coming from the boy. The rest of the Common Room seemed to be getting annoyed as well.

"Blonde hair, wearing a scarf around his forehead, and holding onto a cat in a kimono."

"Holly!"

"Sounds like Adam." I shrugged, wondering where Holly was with my ice cream. "He'll give up eventually. Or so I thought. Twenty minutes later, Holly was still AWOL and Adam was still screaming.

"Holly!"

"If he doesn't shut up, I'm going to go out there and kill him with an Avada Kedavra curse." I grumbled.

"Holly!"

"Trust me, a killing curse is too nice. Too quick. I say we torture him first." Dom snapped.

"HOLLY!"

"SHE'S NOT BLOODY HERE!" Rose yelled at the portrait hole, making a couple of first years chuckle close to us.

"You think that's funny?" Rose glared at the little children. I think one of them wet themselves. "How about you go out into the corridor and tell the crazy guy yelling 'Holly' to SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

One of the girls, clearly terrified of Rose, stood up shakily and walked out of the common room.

"You didn't have to scare the firsties, Rose." I chuckled, ignoring the death glare that was then sent _my_ way.

"The girl, who'd gone outside, ran back in and said "The guy said that he's not going anywhere until he's wooed the girl who wouldn't give him her nuts. Said he's got her a present too."

That got Dom's attention. "Oh a present? What is it?"

"I think he said something about apple pie?"

Stunned. I think that's all we could describe our emotions as. You'd think that we were used to Holly's antics, but we had friendship and loyalty to help with that.

"Who thinks apple pie is a great gift?"

"Adam? Is that you?" Holly's voice could be heard from outside. We all sat staring at each other.

"Okay, I'm going to go watch this, anyone else coming?" I said, standing up and walking in the direction of the exit.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Dom exclaimed, running straight past me to get there first. Rose shook her head in amusement, before following both of us.

Holly was staring, not at the boy, but at the cat. "That kimono is awesome!" She shouted. "Where can I get one of those?"

"Had it delivered all the way from Japan!" He said smugly, "Want me to get you one?"

"You would do that?" The sappy voice was slightly creepy, but Adam didn't seem to notice.

"Ummm….yeah. Actually I came to ask you something."

And here it is. The moment where he asks her out, they fall in love and create insane little psychopaths who want to take over the world. The future looks bright for them both.

"Would you….like to come paint the Potions classroom with me?"

_What?_

"That sounds amazing! I thought they looked a little dreary." Holly smiled in response. "What colour?"

"I was thinking pink. Maybe orange spots as well, haven't quite decided yet." He held out the bowl he had placed next to him. "This is for you."

"APPLE PIE! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" I seriously worry about that girl. Chucking the pots of ice cream she'd picked up at us, making us three do some serious ninja moves to catch them, she took the apple pie and they skipped off together. Literally skipped.

"Did that actually happen?" Rose said, eyebrows raised.

"I think it did." I responded.

Dom just burst into laughter. "Life's never dull is it?" She smirked. "If he wasn't so obviously interested in Holly, I'd think he was gay. He skips like a four year old."

* * *

><p>"When I find out who did this." Professor Grayson seethed. "I will make sure they get detentions for the rest of their time here at Hogwarts."<p>

When I heard Adam ask Holly to go paint the Potions classroom, I thought that he just meant the walls. Not exactly.

Everything in the room, and I mean _everything_, had been painted a bright neon pink, with what turned out to be lime green spots. The walls, the cauldrons, the cupboards, the floor. The desks. It looked like an explosion in a paint factory.

For once I had to give Holly credit. She was sat at her desk next to Rose, and she didn't even look remotely guilty or amused. That girl can secretly act. Shame she rarely uses that talent. She could convince people she was a normal schoolgirl.

We were back in our normal pairs, thank god, and Al couldn't stop the grin forming on his face. "This is brilliant!"

"It would be brilliant, if I didn't keep missing my cauldron with the ingredients." I chuckled. "At least I know where the floor is now."

Class ended, and everyone packed up their things pretty quickly in order to get away from the Potions professor's wrath. Which didn't really matter, because he stormed out of his own classroom anyway. We walked out as a group, to find James and Adam leaning against the wall outside.

Adam pushed himself off and beamed. "I saw Grayson come out! Did he like it?"

"He loved it!" Holly grinned in return. "He was just hiding it under a lot of anger."

"That's good then." James was glancing at Adam in amusement, out the corner of his eye. Adam grabbed Holly's hand and ran away, all the time screaming "NEXT STOP, HOSPITAL WING!"

"So…..Holly's found her soul mate." James chuckled.

I tried to contain my laughter. "Looks like it doesn't it?" He grinned before pulling me close and planting a kiss on my lips. I could here Al pretending to gag behind me.

James glared at him over my shoulder before pulling back. "Where's Rose?" I looked around, realising she wasn't with us. "That's strange, she was with us just before we left the classroom."

Dom who was closest to the door, turned and pulled it open.

Rose was currently sat on one of the desks, and snogging the life out of Scorpius Malfoy.

"Oi get off my cousin!" James and Al yelled at the same time. Rose jumped and fell off the table, Scorpius tried to catch her, but then fell as well. Long story short, Rose and Scorpius ended up in a very compromising position.

Dom turned her head slightly to the side. "That does _not_ look comfy."

Al and James seemed frozen, so I tried to defuse the tension. "Right, let's help them up then." Only, when I was trying to lift Rose into a standing position, did James break out of his trance and move me out the way so he could do it. Al still didn't move.

When Rose and Scorpius were standing once more, they were at least a metre apart, and both blushing hard. It was hilarious.

"Now do you want to tell me why you were practically dry humping my little cousin?" James growled.

"James…" I sighed.

"Little? I am of age you know, I'm actually older than your girlfriend over there." Rose argued, the redness in her face was now due to anger rather than embarrassment.

"That's different." He defended.

"Why? We haven't even done anything other than kissing, but you two have gone _a lot_ further!"

I was the one blushing now. "Can we leave me out of this?" Al seemed to have snapped out of his frozen moment, and actually seemed to find my embarrassment a lot funnier than Rose's.

"You're my cousin!"

"You're mine too, but you don't see me complaining when you go off snogging Amy!" With that, she stormed out of the classroom in almost the same fashion Professor Grayson had.

"Right then." Scorpius said awkwardly, having been left with Rose's angry family. "I'm gunna go." He made sure to leave a wide berth between him and James, before following Rose.

"We should go too." Dom said, perfectly content. "I need to calm Rose down, and Al needs to apologise to Scorpius on James' behalf."

"What? Why?" Al whined, obviously agreeing with everything James had said.

"Because he's your brother, so vamoosh!" Dom grinned, pushing Al out of the room. "James can apologise later as well."

When the door closed, it was just me and James left.

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you just got owned." He grunted in response, before sitting next to me on another of the desks.

"I want to tell Albus and Lily about the baby."

_I'm sorry, what?_

"Bit sudden don't you think?" I answered, looking quite confused.

"I want to be the one to tell them. I don't want them finding out from Mum and Dad, or the press, or from anyone else other than me." He said. "Plus it means when you come to my house, you don't have to worry about having to hide your bump."

"Okay, I'll let you do that and…"

"You're going to be there too."

I squeaked. "I am?"

James smirked at my panic._ I have such a lovely boyfriend_. "Al is one of your best friends Ames, he'd wonder why you weren't telling him as well. And then you've told everyone who matters."

"Almost everyone." James frowned at me, so I cleared up his confusion. "My mum doesn't know yet."

"Your mum doesn't know?" He seemed shocked my this. "I told my Dad at Christmas. They've know for weeks."

"I know." I mumbled. "I'll tell her soon. I promise."

The door slammed open, and Holly ran in followed by Adam. "Thank god I found you." She shouted in a panic. "I need your help!"

Her panic alarmed me. "What for?"

"She got a bit excited in her painting haze." Adam chuckled as she went back into the hall, and came back in holding a multicoloured, and rather angry looking Speedy.

**A/N: And Adam's back. Fun Fun Fun.**

**It's out, the whole wizarding world knows. Bad press already for Amy. Not good.**

**Thanks for all the reviews I've received since the start of the story. They're going up so fast now, it's amazing.**

**Sneeky Peeky Time.**

_"What did you want to talk to us about?" Al said, looking suspicious._

_"Ummm….." I hesitated._

_James put his arm around me to try and calm me down, while he tried to tell his siblings that as the responsible older brother, he'd knocked up his girlfriend, before she was actually his girlfriend._

_"We have something important to tell you."_

_"Are you getting married?" Lily squealed._

_I shook my head. "No we're not getting…." I was interrupted by a flash. "HOLLY, STOP TAKING PICTURES!"_

_"But this moment is so funny!" She giggled. "I want to catch their reactions, and laugh for years."_

_"Well I'm telling you not to. Adam, why are you holding a candle above her head?"_

_He shrugged. "A good picture needs good lighting."_

_"But it's not even lit?"_

_James seemed to think it was face-palm moment. "Can we get back to the point of this conversation?" He sighed._

**As a new reward, I shall be sending Adam with some apple pie. If you want custard just ask.**

**nmegirl**


	45. My Friends Find my Drama Entertaining

After giving a very irate Speedy a bath, and making sure that both he and Holly were at least three metres apart in case of some revenge plot, James kissed me goodbye before heading off to Quidditch practice.

"Are you going to be okay with those two?" He said, looking over my shoulder at Speedy, who seemed to be sharpening his claws on Dom's bed, and glaring maliciously at Holly.

"I should be okay." I chuckled. " How hard can it be to keep Holly out of mischief for a few hours." He gave me a look of amusement before kissing me one last time, and leaving.

"Right." I said, looking at Holly and Speedy in turn respectively. "Holly, if you go anywhere near Speedy tonight, I _will_ tie you to your bed. And don't think I won't."

"What have I done?" She yelled, looking affronted.

I closed my eyes, and shook my head. "I give up. There's no saving you from yourself." I turned to Speedy. "I will try not to let Holly get close to you for a while, so don't act out on your vengeance ideas." I don't know what I expected, I mean I was talking to a cat, but Speedy didn't change the hate on his face or even look like he'd heard me speak.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

A knock at the door broke me out of my reverie, and I went to answer it. Standing outside, clutching a blanket, a bag and dressed in pyjamas, was Emily smiling at my shocked face.

"So I was thinking that with all the drama in your life at the moment, you could do with some girl time." She said, walking past me and putting her stuff at the end of one of the beds. "And what says girl time better than junk food, magazines and lots and lots of talking."

It was only then that Emily noticed Holly sat on her bed. "Didn't see you there. You must be Holly."

"I've been grounded."

Emily raised her eyebrows at her. "Grounded?"

"I'm not allowed to see Adam until tomorrow."

"Which I think, seeing as you spent almost the entire day with him today, that that's very generous of me." I responded, rolling my eyes.

Holly decided to whine. "But he invited me to go midnight swimming with the giant squid!"

"You can't swim."

"I could learn!" Holly replied, stepping off her bed.

I sighed. "Get back on the bed or I will follow through with my threat of tying you to it." Holly jumped back on, but not before I heard her mumble "Stupid mother to be, learning how to discipline."

Dom and Rose walked in, Dom smirking while Rose seemed to still be in a mood from her confrontation with James. They both froze when they saw Emily in the dorm. She waved, and set back to unloading the bag she brought.

"This is Emily." I introduced, making the atmosphere comfortable once more. "She's Sean's girlfriend."

Everyone introduced themselves properly, and all the others apart from me and Emily settled on their respective beds.

"Aren't you going to get ready for bed?" Emily asked, spreading the blanket on the floor like you would for a picnic.

"I…..don't want to go to bed yet."_ And if I get ready for bed you'll see my bump in all my pregnant glory._ "Anyway, how come you're here? I'm not being rude, it's just I didn't think you'd want to, what with you being older and a different house."

"Sean let me in, and I told you that all the girlfriends get along. I must say, apart from me and Sean, you and James have been going out the longest. Counting from October of course." She grinned. "It's nearly four months now?"

"Yeah." I smiled shyly. "It doesn't feel like that long."

Emily smiled back at me, before placing the food and snacks that she'd brought with her on the blanket. "You should change out of that school robe. Can't be comfortable to be wearing that all day every day in your condition."

Everyone froze.

"What condition?" I said, trying not to show in my face, that I was panicking, my heart beating faster than normal.

"Like I said, Sean and I don't have secrets." She replied, not an ounce of judgement on her face. "Go on then, get that robe off."

"You don't care?" I asked in disbelief.

She walked up to me and pulled me into a hug. "That makes me sound cold." She chuckled. "I'm not exactly the kind of girl who judges others, and you and James seem really happy at the moment."

"Can I get off the bed and join in girl time yet?"

I shook my head in amusement, before pulling back and turning to Holly. "Go on then."

This didn't exactly have the reaction I thought it would. Instead of Holly sitting on the blanket with the four of us, she proceeded to run screaming out the door.

"FREEDOM!"

"I'll never get used to that girl." Rose mumbled.

* * *

><p>"I need to talk to you."<p>

I looked up from my lunch, the ghost of a smile still on my face from something Dom had said. Jack was standing next to me. "It's nearly the end of lunch."

He huffed in annoyance. "I know that, I'll be done before lesson starts."

I stared up at him for a few minutes, before nodding hesitantly. As I stood up, I glanced down the table. James had noticed the whole exchange, and was almost standing up to come _rescue_ me. I shook my head subtly to tell him to stay put, but you could see that he'd rather be right next to me if any arguments break out.

Jack noticed and frowned. "Looks like someone wants to control what you do."

"Shut up Jack, he just wants to make sure I'm okay."

"Course he does." He spat. I stopped walking outside the Great Hall doors.

"Stop it. Stop trying to paint James in a bad light or I'm not listening to you 'talk'." He mumbled a quiet "Sorry." before we carried on to a quiet part of the castle. Jack opened the entrance to a secret passageway, and waited for me to go in before him.

"Do we really have to keep going to hidden parts of the castle to talk?"

Jack frowned once more as he closed the entrance. "We do if you don't want your pregnancy being made public like your joke of a relationship."

"That's it." I said trying to walk around him. "I'm gone."

"Wait!" He shouted, blocking my way. "I'll stop." I waited for him to carry on. "So I saw the article about you. Not exactly good publicity."

"Look, if this is all you wanted to talk about…."

"No, I wanted to talk to you about something else." Jack responded.

I tried not to look too interested. "Which was?"

"I want to call a truce." He said, in a matter of fact tone.

"And how does this truce work exactly?" I asked, less worried of his opinions than I was before he found out. Now I was more annoyed.

"I'm not angry at you, Amy. You're just the victim in this." He stated. "It's James I'm mad at. He took advantage."

"James took advantage just as much as I did." I growled. "I'm hardly the _victim_."

"Look," Jack sighed. "A truce means no arguing. I'm trying here, Ames."

"Fine." I grumbled. "Truce."

He smiled slightly, as if he appreciated the fact I was trying to fix this as much as he was. "Good, now what are we going to do about your problem?"

"My problem?" I asked, confused.

He gestured towards my stomach. I looked up at him in disbelief. "What do you mean what are we going to _do_?"

Is it too late to get rid of it?" He asked me, in the same tone he would've used if he was asking me the time.

It all clicked. What _exactly_ he wanted me to do. What he was implying.

"You want me to kill her." It was a statement, rather than a question.

"You're not ready." Face passive, Jack wasn't showing any emotion. "You're sixteen Amy. You shouldn't have the burden of bringing up a child, before you've had the chance to be one."

"She's your niece!" I muttered angrily. "How can you be so calm when you're talking about ending her life?"

"It's what's best."

I stood up rapidly, and stepped back away from Jack. "For who? I wish people would stop trying to tell me what to do. It's my decision, and you, Aiden and anyone else who thinks it's their business can't make it for me."

Picking my bag up, I stared stonily at him. "You're talking about murder."

"Fine, not abortion then, what about adoption?"

"I just told you that it's my decision, and I've already decided. I'm keeping my daughter!" I whispered furiously.

Jack fumed. "You're making a mistake."

"It's this kind of attitude that makes me glad I'm spending Easter with James." I argued, trying to walk off, but he grabbed my arm.

"Like hell you are." He muttered low, and in a threatening manner. "You're coming home where I can keep an eye on you."

"Or what? I'll go and get myself knocked up?" I said. "Newsflash Jack, I'm_ already_ pregnant. There's not much else that can go wrong in your eyes."

"I told you to end it with him."

"If you're still going to act like this, then consider the truce over."

Walking off, I ignored Jack's shouts for me to come back, and my name being yelled over and over.

* * *

><p>"There are a number of dark creatures and beasts that dwell in the magical world. Your best defence is to know just how to fight and ward off the different individuals that…."<p>

"Boooring." Al mumbled under his breath.

"Tell me about it." I yawned from our spot at the back. I think Holly was actually snoring earlier.

"So James told me that you wanted to speak to me after school today."

I squeaked. "He did? That's weird huh?"

He looked suspicious at my reaction. "Amy? What are you not telling me? Should I be worried?" I shook my head rapidly, loosing control of my head.

_Maybe you should be worried about my mental health._

Holly seemed to have woken up since the first half of the lesson, because she squealed excitedly and pulled out a notebook. I'd already told her about James' plan to tell his siblings our secret. "Can I be there when it happens? I have to start getting stuff together!"

She started to scribble on her little notebook. I leaned over to read it. "What would you need fireworks, jelly and paint for?"

"Just in case."

"Just in case of what? A children's birthday party?"

She giggled to herself. "Silly Amy. The jelly is for eating, and the fireworks are for celebration if they take it well."

Rose leaned closer. "And the paint?"

"That's for painting the room an electric blue colour. After you've told them of course."

"No." I said shaking my head. "You are banned from ever using paint again. You can't be trusted."

The horror in her eyes was quite comical. "But…..but why?" I was about to respond, when Al seemed to have lost patience with waiting.

"Guys! What do you all know that I don't?"

Before I could reply however, Rose got there first. "You'll find out later." She turned back to me. "Can me and Dom be there as well? Please? It looks fun!"

"My drama is not there for your amusement!" I whisper yelled.

"So there's drama?" Al questioned.

"But it's so exciting." giggled Dom.

"ARE WE INTERRUPTING YOU AT THE BACK?" All five of us snapped back to the front, with guilty looks on our faces.

"No sir."

"Good." Professor Trimble said. "Then maybe one of you could tell me the proper way to ward off a dementor."

* * *

><p>Dinner came and went quickly, too quickly for my liking. It had been full of suspense and awkwardness, as Al just wouldn't shut up about what we were keeping from him.<p>

"Is it something big? As in would alcohol be a good substance to keep close at hand to help me recover?"

Al!" James sighed. "We'll tell you as soon as dinner is over, just stop asking questions."

Silence ensued as we continued to play with our food. Holly only unable to eat because she was trying to muffle her laughter at our obvious unease.

"You haven't killed anyone have you?"

"AL!" James growled, "Just be patient."

"How can I be patient when there's the possibility that you two have murdered someone. Or something!" Al responded, slightly on the hysterical side. "You've both killed a unicorn, haven't you?"

I let my head fall onto the table. "Alright, I'm not hungry anymore." I stood up to leave, when everyone else in our little group did too. Clearly everyone was waiting for one person to move.

So twenty minutes later, we were sat in Al's dorm. The other boys had been shooed out by both the Potter boys, not that they cared. The only person we were waiting for was Lily, and Rose had been sent to get her.

Al was squirming in his seat. He was never a very patient boy. Put him on a broomstick and he can search for the snitch for hours. Make him watch a game he's not playing, and he moans for hours.

"Is it….."

"No." James sighed.

"But you didn't know what I was going to say."

"I'm gunna hazard a guess that it was something just as stupid as murdering unicorns."

Al huffed, and leaned back against his headboard. "I never said I was an amazing guesser."

"And I never said you had any common sense." Everyone else burst into laughter at the annoyed expression on Albus' face, the tension slightly broken.

Of course, it helped that a certain blonde nutter decided that was the time to enter.

"Knock knock."

"Adam you're not meant to say 'knock' when you enter the room, you're meant to _actually_ knock."

He looked extremely confused at Rose's statement. "But that would hurt my knuckles."

"ADAM!" He then got pushed over by Holly jumping on him. Most people would be annoyed at this, but not Adam. He grinned, helped Holly back up into a standing position, and then proceeded to jump on her.

"You're going to crush her!" Dom squealed.

Not that Holly cared. They were tangled up, like they'd played a particularly challenging game of twister, and giggling to themselves.

"Okay, who invited him?" I droned. This would be hard enough without the wacky twins being present.

"ME!" Holly shrieked, pushing Adam off her.

"Should've guessed." I mumbled.

"We're here!" Rose ran in, pulling Lily behind her, who looked very flushed. Rose only seemed to notice that Lily was breathing hard when she turned back to look at her. "Are you okay Lily? You don't look too good."

"Neither would you if your cousin dragged you out of dinner, and then ran up hundreds of staircases!" Lily huffed.

"Oh don't be so dramatic!" Rose rolled her eyes. "We took a few shortcuts."

"Sit down Lils." James said calmly. "We need to tell you something."

"This is going to be epic." Dom grinned, taking a seat on one of the anonymous beds and pulling popcorn from her bag.

I looked bemused. "Popcorn? Really?"

Rose and Holly sat down next to her and helped themselves, while Adam stood by the side looking confused. "What's supposed to be so entertaining?" He then looked around the room, like he was searching for fire.

"Just sit down Adam." Rose smirked. "Have some popcorn, get comfortable, and let the scene play out."

James glared at all four, especially hard when Adam sat down on the floor like he was watching a television show, and turned back to his brother and sister.

"What did you want to talk to us about?" Al said, looking suspicious.

"Ummm….." I hesitated.

James put his arm around me to try and calm me down, while he tried to tell his siblings that as the responsible older brother, he'd knocked up his girlfriend, before she was actually his girlfriend.

"We have something important to tell you."

"Are you getting married?" Lily squealed.

I shook my head. "No we're not getting…." I was interrupted by a flash. "HOLLY, STOP TAKING PICTURES!"

"But this moment is so funny!" She giggled. "I want to catch their reactions, and laugh for years."

"Well I'm telling you not to. Adam, why are you holding a candle above her head?"

He shrugged. "A good picture needs good lighting."

"But it's not even lit?"

James seemed to think it was face-palm moment. "Can we get back to the point of this conversation?" He sighed.

"Sure, just pretend I'm not here!" Holly said, moving the camera until it was right in my face. I glared at her, before pulling the camera out her hands and turning it off.

"Hey!"

"Go sit down Holly." She looked like she was about to argue some more, before she shrugged her shoulders and went back to sit next to Rose.

"Amy?" Al said, slightly hesitating. "It can't be that bad right?"

"We….ummm….I mean…."I stuttered. The nerves were kicking in and I couldn't figure out what to say or how to do it.

How do you tell one of your best friends that you're pregnant, and that you didn't tell them straight away?

James grabbed my hand, smiled at me and turned to his siblings once more. "We'd like you to have an open mind, and try to see both sides before making an opinion."

"Okaaay." Lily chuckled nervously and Al nodded once.

"Amy's pregnant."

Al looked motionless. Lily didn't.

"You're having a baby?" She squealed, smiling widely. She jumped up and hugged me tightly. "It's my niece or nephew right?"

"Niece." I confirmed. Lily let out a muffled scream, before hugging James and saying "I'm gunna be an Aunt!"

James was smiling, happy that his sister had accepted this without question or anger. However we both looked to Al, who had not said anything so far.

"Al?"

He opened his mouth a few times, like he was trying to form words. Eventually, he managed "How long have you known?"

Me and James looked at each other. "Since October." I replied.

"How come you're only telling me now? I thought I was your friend?"

"You are!" I said. "I just didn't know how you'd react."

Al then turned to James. "Why didn't _you_ tell me? You could have told me at any point over Christmas."

"I'm sorry." He said, honesty clear in his words. "A lot has happened since we found out, but we wanted to be the ones to tell you."

Al stared back at him, until a small smile formed. "I guess this calls for a Congratulations." James grinned and pulled Albus in for a brotherly pat on the back.

"Thanks."

"Is that it?" Me, James, Al and Lily all turned to the four people on the bed, who were looking at us in disbelief. Dom was the one who had spoken. "Where's the drama? The entertainment?"

"Sorry to disappoint." I smirked.

"Well that was boring." Holly yawned, kicking Adam so that he stood up as well. "Now I need to do something fun."

"You still got that electric blue paint?" Adam grinned. When Holly pulled the pot out of her bag, I took it out of her hands.

"Oh no you don't." I said. "You've already proved that you and paint do not mix."

"You're right." She conceded. Or at least that's what I thought she did. As soon as I let my guard down, she snatched the pot of paint out my hand and screamed "Run!"

This prompted Adam to pick her up in a fireman's lift, and run out the room screaming "They're on to us!".

Silence.

"Shall we just pretend that didn't happen?" Al stated.

"Yes please." Rose answered.

* * *

><p>"Hey."<p>

Aiden looked up. "Hey!" He smiled. "What brings you here?"

I looked around the library, searching for my boyfriend. "Looking for James, he said he'd meet me here after Quidditch. He said he had a late night practice."

"Well you can stay here with me while you wait if you like."

I sat down next to him. "I'd like that. How are you?"

Aiden grinned. "I'm good. How are you and your _condition_?" I laughed, happy to have less drama for the moment.

"It's good." I said. "I can't believe I'm past the half way point. It's gone so quickly." We settled into a comfortable silence.

"I need advice Ames."

I raised an eyebrow. "From me?"

"Yeah." Aiden answered. "Do you remember me telling you about Anthony?" I smirked.

"I do indeed. The guy who isn't your date but you'd secretly like him to be." Aiden went bright red again, making me giggle.

"That's the guy." He blushed, embarrassed. "I was thinking about asking him to the next Hogsmeade weekend."

I frowned. "So why do you need advice from me?"

"I…" Aiden faltered. "I haven't asked out a guy before. How do you do it?"

I tried not to laugh at how nervous he found the whole thing. "I've never really asked out a boy, I've suggested that we should hang out after class or something, but the guy always asked me out. I was never that forward."

The disappointment in his eyes made me feel sympathy. "Why don't you just do whatever it was you did when you asked out a girl?"

"I guess," he said. "I mean, I know how to do that."

"Let me know how it goes yeah?" I smiled.

"I will."

I looked around the library again. Checking my watch, I realised that James was fifteen minutes late. "I'm going to check the pitch."

Aiden nodded. "Alright then. See you round?"

"Sure." I walked out the library and out of the castle. I could see three figures flying around form a distance.

When I approached the pitch, I realised that they weren't wearing red Quidditch robes. They were wearing green. Walking away, I could feel it when all three players flew down to the ground. They'd seen me from where they were flying.

"What do we have here then?" I recognised the voice. It was a voice I'd only really heard once before, last time I was on this pitch.

Flint sneered as the other two Slytherins laughed raucously. I started to back off, but one of Flint's wingmen stepped around to block my way.

"It's Potter's little plaything." He mocked. "and a pretty little plaything it is too." His eyes looked me up and down in a way that made my skin crawl.

"How about we have some play time of our own?"

**A/N: I'm sorry. For the last couple of chapters, I've been good at avoiding cliffies. But I just couldn't help myself. What can I say, I'm only human :P**

**Uhoh. Looks like Amy's in trouble. And surrounded by Slytherins.**

**I was thinking about doing a bit in Holly's POV at some point, to see what goes on in her mind. Do people like that idea, or should I stick to Amy and James' POV?**

**A sneak peak then.**

_"What do you want?" I glared at Flint._

_"Potter's little plaything has some fight in her." He smirked, making his croonies burst into laughter once more._

_"I didn't think Gryffindors were your type Flint." I said, trying to keep the nervous trembles to a minimum._

_"They're not." He replied maliciously. "Mainly Slytherins, a few Ravenclaws, the odd Hufflepuff." He stepped closer to me. Too close for my liking. "But never a Gryffindork."_

_He placed his hand on my cheek, making me move away. "I think it's the fact you're Potter's that makes me wanna play." He leered, giving the signal for the other two to move in closer._

**A short preview, but a preview nonetheless. Don't want to give too much away :P**

**You can choose your own cyber gift this time, as long as if it has something to do with the story or character, they're returned for the next chapter : )**

**nmegirl**


	46. My Saviours are Working Together

I stepped back, which made his cold grin spread wider. "What's the matter? Don't like the sound of that?"

I didn't respond, something that they all seemed to find highly amusing. I tries to walk around the other two, but they kept sidestepping to block my path.

"Don't leave so soon. The fun's just about to start!"

I wouldn't have been as afraid as I was, if it hadn't been for the fact that there was no one around to witness this, and that I wouldn't put it past any of them to be fine with brutality. I also had a life that I had to look after and protect.

So I listened to the one bit of advice mum always gave me about bullying.

'_Don't let them think they're getting to you. They'll get bored when they realise they aren't, and then they'll leave you alone._'

"What do you want?" I glared at Flint.

"Potter's little plaything has some fight in her." He smirked, making his cronies burst into laughter once more.

"I didn't think Gryffindors were your type Flint." I said, trying to keep the nervous trembles to a minimum.

"They're not." He replied maliciously. "Mainly Slytherins, a few Ravenclaws, the odd Hufflepuff." He stepped closer to me. Too close for my liking. "But never a Gryffindork."

He placed his hand on my cheek, making me move away. "I think it's the fact you're Potter's that makes me wanna play." He leered, giving the signal for the other two to move in closer.

Which is exactly what they did. I moved backwards away from Flint's friends once again, but this time when I did, the Flint moved back too. Even though the other two were still advancing.

That's when I realised exactly what they were doing. I stopped moving when I did.

_They were herding me somewhere. I'm guessing somewhere not so open._

Flint's eyebrows shot up when I froze where I was. I refused to be a part of their game.

"I'm not going anywhere you want me to." His smirk fell from his face to be replaced by a stony glare. He pulled his wand from his pocket.

"I'll just curse you where you stand then." He spat. "It's not like anyone can see me anyway."

Flint grabbed my arm with his free hand and started tugging me closer. If he pulled me too close however, my bump would get in between us and then….

He'd know.

I couldn't let that happen. Even though I had decided on not letting them think they'd gotten to me, I started fighting against his hold, squirming back away from him as best I could, even though the evil smirk was back on his face.

I gave him a shove from nowhere, and Flint, not expecting me to get too physical, stumbled from the surprise. Which gave me the perfect opportunity to knee him right where it hurts.

He gasped, and fell to the ground. The other two running forward to grab one of my arms each so I couldn't get away. I struggled hopelessly against their strength, but it was no use. There was no way a small girl like me could take on two massive male Quidditch players.

"YOU BITCH!" Flint managed to get out, rolling on the ground in agony. Just as he got up after a few moments of recovery and I knew he was going to impart some physical damage on me in revenge, another voice sounded out.

"Let. Her. Go."

All four of us turned to look at the newcomer. James looked furious, wand already pointed at Flint, and the odd spark was flying from the end as if it was reflecting it's master's emotions.

The two guys holding me looked to Flint for instructions, unsure as to what the new arrival would do to Flint's plans.

"Or what?" Flint changed his course, approaching James rather than me. "What are _you_ going to do? There's three of us and one of you." His gaze drifted to me. "Well, two of you, but I wouldn't count her. The way she couldn't get herself out of trouble doesn't exactly bode well for your side."

"I'm not asking Flint." James growled. "I'm telling you to let her go!"

"And what if I don't want to?" He exchanged a malicious chuckle with the other two. "You're still outnumbered."

"Oh, I don't know about that." A new voice came from the entrance to the Quidditch pitch, making me jump in surprise.

A figure was walking across the field now, and it was only when they got close, that I was able to see who it was.

"From where I'm standing, the numbers are a bit off but I'm still thinking we could take you." Jack said, glaring at the two arms that were holding me back. "Especially seeing as those two have just enough common sense to string a few words together and make a sentence between them."

The appearance of Jack changed the expressions on both Flint and James' faces. On the Slytherin's, there was a slight cloud of doubt forming, and he looked around for something that could help him. On James', I could see the tiniest spark of hope in his eyes. Whether it was hope that he had started to forgive him, or that they could really beat the Slytherins together, I didn't know.

"I didn't want her anyway." He said, trying to act like the situation was still under his control. "You can have her." He signalled for the cronies to let me go, which made them push me towards my boyfriend and brother. James caught me, stood me up and them proceeded to push me behind him so his body was protecting mine.

Jack was now standing next to James, shoulder to shoulder. It was a good feeling to see them working together again, after everything they went through.

"Come on." Flint yelled at the other two. "If I stay in their presence any longer, I think I'll throw up." All three then proceeded to leave the pitch, not once turning their backs on us.

"Thank you." James had said it with so much honesty, that his relief was clear in his eyes and expression. He was genuinely happy that Jack was here.

Jack stared at James with no facial expression for a few seconds, before turning away. "I didn't do it for you." He mumbled. Jack walked to me, around James.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I breathed, only just realising how fast my heart was pounding. "I'm fine, I….."

"Good." Jack walked off, hands in pockets, not acknowledging James.

"Jack?" He stopped where he was and looked my way. "Thank you." He nodded and then proceeded to leave the Quidditch pitch.

James sighed before pulling me into a tight hug. "Are you okay?" He mumbled against my shoulder.

"I'm fine." I repeated. "They didn't hurt me."

"They were going to." He said, the cold tone creeping back into his voice. "I could see it as I was running across the pitch, he looked furious. You don't have to pretend you're okay around me Ames."

"I'm not pretending." I whispered. "I'm fine."

James had a doubtful look on his face. "I saw the fear in your eyes, I'm not buying it."

I was about to open my mouth to deny his observations, when he just shook his head at me. "It's getting dark. We should get back inside."

* * *

><p>"…..And then I said what do you want a fish for? And then Adam said he wanted to slap someone with it. And then I said what kind of fish is good for slapping people? And then Adam said a trout or a haddock because they're long and easy to swing. And then I said…"<p>

"How long does this go on for?" I whined to Rose who did not look amused to be part of this conversation.

"If _you're_ bored after one 'I said, Adam said' conversation, how do you think I feel?" She grumbled under her breath. "She's been talking non stop since you told Al and Lily to expect a new family member."

"…..And then Adam asked me if I wanted a cheese fight. And then I asked if we would be melting the cheese. And then Adam said no because we had to throw blocks of cheese. And then I knocked him out with a particularly big block of cheese. And then Adam….."

"Is she still talking?" James said, walking out of the bathroom in baggy joggers and towel drying his hair. I nodded, wondering whether she'd actually breathed in the middle of her speech.

"YES!" Dom screamed from her bed, pillow over her face to muffle her shouting profanities. "If she doesn't shut up, _I'm_ going to get a trout and smack her with it!" Dom then burst into tears.

"….And then I said….."

"That it's time for bed." I finished for her, earning an odd look from Holly.

"No that's not what I said…."

"Well it's what I'm saying." I replied. "We're all tired, our heads hurt from all your talking, and you've made Dom cry."

"I just can't take it anymore." Dom sobbed. "It's driving me insane!" Rose comforted Dom, while the rest of us got into our respective beds. James drew the curtains around us, so all we could here were Rose's words of sympathy.

Eventually the crying died down, and we heard the creeks of the floor as Rose went to her own bed after turning out the light. And so we all settled down to sleep.

Or I'm guessing the others did.

I was too stressed to sleep. The run in with Flint kept me up, remembering the malicious look in his eyes, and knowing that, if James hadn't come when he did, he could have hurt me. Or worse, he could've hurt the baby.

"What are you thinking about so loudly?"

I turned to see James examining my face. "What?"

"You've got your worried face on." He replied, pulling me closer.

"No offence guys, but if I hear anymore talking I may burst into tears again." I chuckled under my breath as James _muffliato_'d the bed.

He gave me an expectant look. "Come on then. What's got you thinking?"

I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be able to avoid this conversation. "It's…Flint." James tensed as he nodded his head for me to continue. "I thought all this Slytherin hates Gryffindor stuff finished after the war."

"It did."

I looked to James in confusion, so he tried to explain. "The majority of Slytherin don't actually hate Gryffindor's guts anymore. But it's like all the other houses. You get the rotten eggs in them all. Look at Davies, we hate each other, but he's not a Slytherin."

I frowned. "Then why does Flint…"

"My dad said Flint's father was a piece of work. Parenting has a huge affect on how the child turns out. My dad always knew Scorpius would be alright, especially to Uncle Ron, because Draco Malfoy turned over a new leaf and started again." He smirked. "Which is good because the Malfoys sounded like pompous prats."

"Why does he hate you so much?"

James just shrugged. "Do you think you can sleep now?"

"I think so."

He laid down flat and pulled me in. "Night Ames."

* * *

><p>In Charms next day, we were put in random pairs to do partner work. Apparently working with different people would help us in any career after Hogwarts.<p>

"….I mean, what if I wanted to be a artist who only painted bowls of fruit in dark rooms?" I ranted to my completely quiet partner. "Learning to work with other people really shouldn't matter, right?"

She still didn't say anything, but just sat staring at me like I was someone of importance.

"Are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned. "You haven't said anything since I sat down next to you."

The girl opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish a few times before she was able to form words. "What's it like?"

I looked confused. "What's what like?"

"Going out with James Potter."

I let out a sigh. "Can we talk about something else?"

"I mean I don't mean to pry," She said quickly, like she was afraid to offend me. "Have you done any interviews? Have you been offered a modelling contract? Does he spend all his money on you?"

_Doesn't mean to pry? She may as well have got a Dictaphone out and recorded all my answers._

"If I answer, can we get back to the lesson?" I went bright red, wishing that she didn't give me so much attention.

She nodded eagerly, leading me to keep talking. "Ummm….I guess no to all."

"No?" She looked dejected. "It looks glamorous."

"I don't think about the _extras_" I said, using my fingers to mock the word. "That's not what I wanted when I agreed to go out with James."

She turned away, and looked at the book. "What shall we do then?"

I shrugged with my head resting on the table. "We could practice the Bewitched sleep." The girl looked completely horrified that I even suggested that.

"I can't put you into a deep sleep!" She practically yelled, making the other students at the tables closest to us look up in our direction. "What if I do it wrong and no one could ever wake you up? The entire Potter and Weasley family, not to mention your brothers and all their mates will come after me!"

"I'm sure it's safe." I said, trying to calm her down. "Otherwise they wouldn't let us _practice_ would they?"

"I'm not doing that, pick another one."

I flipped through the Charms book. "The Conjunctivitus curse?"

"You want me to aim at your eyes? If I blind you the press will be all over that!"

"Fine, fine, no conjunctivitis curse!" I replied, holding my hands up in a surrender pose. "I'll look again."

I looked through a lot of pages before coming across another spell that I was interested in. Hesitantly, I pointed it out to the girl, waiting for an explosion.

"YOU WANT TO DO THE EPOXIMISE SPELL?" She only quietened when I gestured frantically for her to lower her voice. "What if I stick something to you permanently? James Potter himself will come after me and hex me into oblivion!"

"Can we just forget the fact that I'm going out with James Potter for a few minutes?" I begged slightly.

It wasn't long before the professor ended the lesson, and I made my way over to my friends with a sigh of relief.

"You see that girl there?" I pointed her out to Rose as we left the room.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Next time we have to work with different partners project, she's gunna be yours."

We walked out of the classroom to find Adam waiting outside with a massive grin on his face.

"ADAM!" Holly squealed. "What are you doing here?"

"That's actually a genuinely good question." Dom mumbled to the rest of us. "Does he ever actually go to lessons?"

"Guess what I found!" He chuckled, bouncing up and down where he was stood. Pulling something from behind him, Holly gasped, before breaking into a huge smile.

"You found a trout!" She said. "Who are you going to smack across the face then?"

"I don't know." He responded. "That's the fun part. I'm gunna see who looks like they need to be slapped with a wet fish!"

"Can I help?"

He held out his hand that wasn't holding the trout, and laughed. "Of course."

"I seriously worry about those two." I said, watching them run off together. "I haven't seen much of Holly on her own since she met him."

* * *

><p>"Amy Swann?"<p>

I looked up at the small second year who was standing next to the seats we were in, in the common room.

"Yeah?" I answered, looking confused.

"There's a guy outside asking for you." She said, looking ready to run away once she'd passed on the message.

"There is?" I said, surprised. _Who wanted to speak to me?_

She nodded before scuttling off. I looked to the others. Dom and Rose looked concerned. But not as much as Al.

"You want me to go and tell him to piss off?" He asked, standing up ready to go as soon as I said the word.

I shook my head. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" He checked. "Because I don't mind. When James isn't here, I should be the one to look out for you in the absence of Ja…." He stopped himself from saying Jack's name at the last minute looking guilty.

"You don't have to avoid his name." I said, brushing off his concern. "It's Jack who's being an idiot. And really," I stood up. "I'll be fine."

Al nodded hesitantly, sitting down just as cautiously. I walked to the portrait hole, before climbing through.

"Oh it's you." I didn't even try to hide the contempt in my voice. "What do you want?" Jason was leaning against the opposite wall casually.

"You can't seriously be going out with Potter?" He said in disbelief.

"Old news Jase." I folded my arms. "The school found that out weeks ago. What's taken you so long to come and confront me about it?"

"Guess I just didn't want to believe it." He bit back. "He's a dick Amy."

"This coming from the guy who threw a beater's bat at the back of James' skull on purpose." The shock registered on his face for a few seconds. Clearly he didn't expect me to know that.

"Did Radley tell you that?" He fumed. "If he did….."

"No he did not! I saw it with my own eyes, Jason." It shut him up for a few moments, not knowing how to respond. I hadn't heard it off someone, so he couldn't downplay it as hearsay. "What happened to Radley?"

"Radley?" He said, breaking out of his thoughts. "Banned from Quidditch for the rest of the year."

I looked at him in disgust. "How can you say that without cringing?"

"It's okay, I'll find a replacement."

I scoffed at him. "I wasn't talking about how it affects _you_, what if Radley wanted a Quidditch career? You've put a permanent black mark on his record!"

"Well he doesn't." Jason shrugged, as if he didn't care in the slightest.

"If you were even slightly decent, you'd confess, not let someone else take the blame."

He looked at me like I'd suggested he go for a swim with the giant squid. "You've got me confused with someone else. You see, I _want_ a Quidditch career."

Before I could reply to his statement with anything more than a glare, Holly and Adam came running around the corner.

"That guy!" Holly screamed pointing at Jason. Adam grinned before running at him screaming "Charge!"

Before any of us knew it, Adam had knocked Jason to the ground and had started slapping him round the face repeatedly with the fish he had in his hand earlier.

Holly was squealing in delight. "Hit him hard Adam!" She giggled. "Make him think he's trespassing in a gangster fish market!"

I was in awe. I didn't know whether to laugh or let Adam get a head start away from Jason. When he got out of this, he would not be pleased. It got even funnier when Jason started trying to wrestle the fish out of Adam's hands.

Eventually, however, Jason managed to take the fish off of him, making Adam jump up and run away, yelling "HE'S ARMED! RETREAT!" Holly screamed and ran after him.

I walked back into the Common room in amusement, hearing Jason yell behind me "COME BACK YOU LITTLE PRICK!"

* * *

><p>"I think I'm in love!" Holly sighed, before falling back onto her bed.<p>

I chuckled from my bed, wondering exactly where James was. Rose huffed. "How much do you actually know about Adam?" She asked, folding her clothes she'd just changed out of.

"I know he's called Adam!" She smiled, as if just knowing his first name was an accomplishment. "And that he likes Apple pie with custard. And nuts. And that he has a cat called Tweety Pie!"

"Yeah yeah." Rose waved off everything she said. "What about what year he's in?"

Holly frowned, looking up in thought.

"His house?" I asked, wondering exactly how much she knew. She still didn't respond.

"His last name?" Dom said next, incredulity clear in her voice.

Holly giggled nervously. "Didn't quite catch that part, I guess." She shrugged and continued to bounce on her bed.

"Oh good God Holly!" Rose practically screamed in her direction. "For all we know, he's not even a student at this school! He could be a teacher!"

"Now I know he's a student!" Holly grinned. "He wears a school uniform."

"I was being sarcastic Holly!" Rose snapped back.

James poked his head through the doorway. "What's going on? Do I or do I not want to enter this war zone?" The last part was aimed at me.

I chuckled. "Come in. We're just discussing the possibility of Holly running around with a mentally challenged teacher's assistant."

He bent down to kiss me. As he broke away, he added "Wouldn't put it past him."

"Anyway!" Holly yelled. "It doesn't matter what I know, it's how we feel! And we won't let you Montagues or Capulets hold us down!" She then proceeded to mutter Shakespeare under her breath.

"She always take things just that little bit too far." Dom mumbled, the rest of us agreeing.

**A/N: Again, very sorry for the cliffy last chapter. **

**Is Jack coming around? Is he starting to accept them? Or is it a fluke, did he just help because it was his sister?**

**So. Many. Answers**.

_So, Valentine's Day on Monday." Rose stated. "You and James doing anything special?"_

_"Probably just down to Hogmeade on the Sunday like everyone else." I replied, crushing the beetle eyes with my knife._

_"Oh I know!" Holly whisper yelled in my ear. "You two can come to Madam Puddyfoot's with me and Adam. We can double date, It'll be fun!"_

_Oh God no._

_Clearly the horror was reflected on my face, because Al and Dom looked like they wanted to burst into laughter next to us. "Holly, I wouldn't go on a normal double date with you, never mind to Madam Puddyfoot's." I shuddered just at the thought of all that confetti and pinkness._

_"Fine, then you'll miss all the fun." Holly huffed. "We were going to collect all the cupids hanging above the tables, and pelt them at all the couples. After teaching them swearwords of course."_

**Review, and Adam will smack anyone you want with a wet fish. You can even choose the type of fish.**

**nmegirl**


	47. My Boyfriend is Keeping Secrets

The next few weeks flew past in a blur, the snow from the winter had finally all melted, but the cold was still in the air for the first few days of February.

Potions had certainly been interesting since the 'paint' fiasco. Professor Grayson had taken to glaring at all the students in every class, looking for evidence that _they_ were the people who lost control of a paint brush in his beloved classroom. Man, that guy can hold onto a grudge.

"Better not pull anything iffy around Grayson at the moment," I mumbled when the professor was pointedly looking in the opposite direction. "He looks like he might just let Filch use a whip on the guilty party."

"I laugh in the face of danger!" Holly grinned, before trying to pull off her version of an evil laugh.

"What was _that_?" Dom whispered, looking amused.

Holly looked offended. "_That_ was a particularly good evil chuckle if I do say so myself."

Dom just scoffed. "Sounded more like someone ran over a cat." I couldn't contain the giggle that threatened to come out of my mouth.

"SILENCE!" Grayson yelled, before controlling his voice. "I need silence to concentrate." He walked up to Poppy Weller in the front row and looked in her cauldron with a suspicious look on his face.

"I think you broke his last nerve Holly." I whispered, grinning.

She shrugged. "It had to happen sometime. I'm surprised he survived the first five years I was here. I'm waiting for all of _you_ to crack as well."

"The amount of crazy I've got in my life at the moment, I'm sure I'll survive anything you throw at me." I answered, turning back to carry on with my potion.

So, Valentine's Day on Monday." Rose stated. "You and James doing anything special?"

"Probably just down to Hogmeade on the Sunday like everyone else." I replied, crushing the beetle eyes with my knife.

"Oh I know!" Holly whisper yelled in my ear. "You two can come to Madam Puddyfoot's with me and Adam. We can double date, It'll be fun!"

Oh God no.

Clearly the horror was reflected on my face, because Al and Dom looked like they wanted to burst into laughter next to us. "Holly, I wouldn't go on a normal double date with you, never mind to Madam Puddyfoot's." I shuddered just at the thought of all that confetti and pinkness.

"Fine, then you'll miss all the fun." Holly huffed. "We were going to collect all the cupids hanging above the tables, and pelt them at all the couples. After teaching them swearwords of course."

"I'll risk missing the fun." I chuckled, "Anyway, I think James is planning something secret. He said he was taking me to Joe's but he's been whispering with his friends, and grinning in my direction. Do you think I should be worried?"

Rose, Dom and Al all gave each other knowing looks, spiking my curiosity. "You all know what he's planning don't you?"

"That would be telling" Al said, trying not to smile. "James is my brother. I can't tell you his secrets."

"But I'm your _best friend_!"

Al shook his head in amusement. "That may have worked if I was holding back gossip, but I'm not. Just be patient, it'll be worth the wait."

I gave him a look of disbelief. "Coming from you. _'What if you've killed a unicorn?'_" I mimicked his voice to the laughter of the others.

"That was different." Al mumbled. "All you said was 'Let's talk'. It sounds like something bad."

"Whatever you say." I smirked, making Holly squeal just that little bit too loud from laughter.

"QUIET!" Professor Grayson yelled, scaring the life out of one of the Hufflepuff's in the second row by staring right at his eyes.

* * *

><p>"What exactly have you got planned for me tomorrow?" I said, after spending the last couple of days trying to badger the truth out of my friends.<p>

James smirked at my impatience. "Can't you just wait until tomorrow morning to find out?"

"No." I stated truthfully. "Not when all the others know and I don't"

"Actually Holly doesn't." James grinned up from my bed. "Like I'd trust that girl to keep a secret from you."

Trying to defend my best friend, I said "She hasn't blurted my pregnancy to anyone."

"And I'm still amazed at that. She's not exactly the most subtle of people." I shook my head at his opinion, before dropping down next to him on my bed. Pulling the duvet up to cover me, an idea suddenly popped into my head.

"And there's _nothing_ I can do to make you tell me?" I pushed the covers off me and swung my right leg over to the other side of his body. Effectively, I was straddling him. I was lucky the curtains were already closed around us.

"Umm…." James gulped. "No?" I smirked internally, not wanting to ruin the slight amount of power I had in this moment. It was good to think that this time, I wasn't speechless at something _he'd_ done.

His breathing was noticeably shallower, although I couldn't tell whether is was because he was turned on, or because he had a girl the size of a whale sat on top of him, making it harder to breath. I'm gunna go with the former. Much more romantic.

As I leant down to kiss him, I ignored the one thought that had been running through my head since I started the seduction. That he would find my new body repulsive. I still stood in shock every time I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Even though he'd seen me in normal nightclothes, leaving every curve of my body on show, It was hard to keep the pessimistic voices quiet.

James responded with enthusiasm, pulling me closer to him as he ran his tongue along my lower lip, asking for entrance. If he was repulsed, he wasn't showing it, so I used the hope that started to build inside me to press my body as close to his as I could.

In a matter of moments, I was pushed off him, and found myself lying to his side. I turned to James, to find him lying there with his hands covering his face. It had been him who had pushed me off.

The rejection stung. Clearly he didn't find me as attractive as he had when we had first started going out. Why would he? When there were girls in this school who had the perfect bodies, who weren't swelling up to the size of a beach ball. I used all my energy to stop the unshed tears from falling.

He moved his hands aside, but the look of disgust I had expected wasn't on his face. He had been merely pouting behind his hands.

"That's not fair!" He whined, trying not to smile. "You can't use….use that….to make me spill my secrets!"

I sighed in relief before turning away slightly to wipe away the unnecessary tears. "You left me no choice." I replied. "When everyone else knows, there has to be some way I can be let in on the secret."

James sighed in return. "If I tell you that the actual surprise is not happening tomorrow, but on Monday, will you stop distracting me from keeping my little secret?"

"Monday?" I said confused. "You mean Valentines' day?"

"That is generally when people _celebrate_ Valentines' day" He droned, like I was reacting very slowly. "I'm still taking you to Joe's tomorrow, but the surprise is on Valentines' day."

"Alright then." I responded. "I won't distract you anymore." I leaned in for another snogging marathon.

He broke the kiss once more. "I thought we decided on no distractions?"

"This isn't a distraction." I whispered, leaning forward to nibble on the end of his ear, making him shiver. "Am I not allowed to make out with my boyfriend?"

James though about it for a moment, before responding to my initial kiss with vigour, only breaking it a third time when both our lungs begged for oxygen. Even then, his lips trailed down to my collar bone, trying not to break contact.

He flipped us so that he was on top of me, supporting his weight with his elbows as our lips met again. The fast pace reflecting our impatience at waiting so long for us both to be in private. Due to secrecy, stress, tension between my brother and my boyfriend, and no alone time, we actually hadn't gone all the way since our daughter had been conceived. Maybe this would be our chance.

James hadn't been wearing a shirt or vest to bed, meaning I didn't have to attempt to take it off him. It didn't stop me running my hands down his bare chest however, and placing them on his abdomen.

_Thank you wizarding Gods, for giving my boyfriend such a fine set of abs._

James let out a low moan, before pulling my hands out of the way. He reached for my top pulling it past my bump. I stiffened slightly, still waiting for the revulsion that didn't seem to be coming. He hesitated, noticing my reaction, before looking up at me, asking for permission. I nodded, his hands responding by lifting the hem of my shirt even higher, until it was resting at the bottom of my ribcage.

Now, what with my record of things not going to plan, I really should have expected what happened next. I should have remembered that even if we'd pulled the curtains shut, even if James had cast the spell so no one else could hear us, we would never get a moment of peace and quiet together.

We should have remembered that although Rose, Dom, James and I had climbed into our own beds, Holly still hadn't returned from the kitchen when we did.

So I really should have expected her to be our moment killer, and pull open the drapes.

"Ames do you still have my…..OH MY GOD, MY EYES!" She shrieked, pulling her hand up to her face and running back to her side of the room, tripping over everything on the floor. "MY EYES! I'M BLIND!"

Pulling my top down from where it had still been resting at the bottom of my ribs, I sighed. "Holly, we're still fairly decent."

"You can't fool around when you've got a baby in…..there!" She whispered the last bit furiously, like the baby in question might hear us using 'naughty' words.

"It's perfectly normal for two people to be…..intimate when they're expecting." James recited. "I read it in one of the books."

"You are getting _way_ too into those books." I muttered.

"As that baby's godmother, I demand you two stop fornicating!" She nearly shouted causing me and James to raise our eyebrows.

Rose and Dom, who had woken up when Holly had first started shouting, had something to say about Holly's mini rant. "You the godmother?" Rose scoffed. "Only if they want a child that grows up to be the devil's spawn."

"And why shouldn't one of us be godmother?" Dom said. " We have just as much right, and would do a better job! You couldn't stop a child from causing mischief, you'd just join in, giving her tips!"

"You're not seriously considering_ her_ for godmother are you?" James looked at me in disbelief when I didn't answer straight away.

"Well you can't just rule her out because she's a little bit nutty."

He spluttered "_A little bit nutty_? This is the girl who tipped a whole jar of frog's spawn on Filch's head in third year, before saying and I quote 'I'm just having one of those days'!"

Over everyone shouting, not allowing me to have my input, and a severe lack of sleep in the last few days, I turned over, turned the light out from my bed using my wand, and ignored them.

* * *

><p>We woke up early to find Holly's bed empty, before getting dressed and walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast.<p>

And we discovered where Holly had gone almost as soon as we had all started eating. Adam and Holly came prancing into the room. Looking like they were wearing fancy dress.

"What are you two _wearing_?" Dom asked in horror.

"Togas and gold wreaths." Holly looked at Dom as if she were mental. "What do you think?"

"But _why_?"

Holly looked to Adam to explain. "Do you think the cupids in Madam Puddyfoot's are going to go along with our plan willingly?" He shook his head like we were in denial. "We came up with the perfect plan!"

"Basically.." Holly continued, jumping up and down in excitement. "We're gunna walk into the coffee shop dressed as a cupid ourselves, which will confuse them. Eventually they'll think we're one of them, they'll trust us and then….."

"BAM!" Adam emphasised his word by hitting the table. "HIT BY A SHOVEL!"

"Except we don't have a shovel, so….."

"BAM! HIT BY CHARMS TEXTBOOK!" Adam looked really pleased with himself. While they both grinned at each other, thinking about their wonderful plan, the rest of us looked on in bemusement.

"Okay…." Rose looked ready to rain on their parade. "Say your plan of _actually_ convincing the cupids that you are," she used her fingers to emphasise the next point "'one of them' works, how are you going to grab every single cupid after you've hit the first one with a charms textbook?"

Adam didn't even have to pause to think. "We're going to set the leprechauns on them."

"I'm sorry….." Rose groaned. "Leprechauns? How the hell do _Leprechauns_ fit into this plan?"

"Well Leprechauns are just as vertically challenged as Cupids!" Holly explained. "We're thinking that they'll strike up a pact to help each other out in times of need!" She turned to the Ravenclaw nutter. "About that, we have a problem with mission 'Irish midgets'."

"What's the problem?" Adam didn't seem troubled.

"They've migrated to America to protect their lucky charms."

Adam stroked his chin in an evil genius kind of way. "Alright, change of plan, we're going to need flour, eggs and a really big spoon."

Al sat up like he finally understood where the conversation was going. "Are you gunna make flour bombs to throw at the cupids?"

"No." Adam raised an eyebrow in Al's direction. "I'm going to make a really big cake! Planning makes me hungry."

"Ooh Cake!" Holly squealed. "Yes please."

"And that is why we are not double dating with them." I stated to James, as they ran away. "Ever."

* * *

><p>The walk down to Hogsmeade was an uneventful one. Both me and James were at ease with each other, as per usual, when it happened.<p>

As soon as we stepped over the boundaries that marked the edge of Hogwarts, a swarm of people surrounded us. Flashes went off around us, and James' previously carefree face tensed as he tried to pull me through the throng of paparazzi.

"Miss Swann, what's it like to be James Potter's girlfriend?"

"What's so special about you?"

"What do you have to say to the people of the wizarding world about your relationship?"

"How do you live guilt free after snaring one of the world's most eligible bachelors?"

One of the questions, shouted out over the other voices, stuck strongly in the back of my head.

"Mister Potter, why _her_?"

Feeling extremely overwhelmed, I let James guide me in a direction that was unknown to me. The paparazzi reached out to grab either one of us as we passed, sticking their camera's in our faces. When one of the people was knocked into me, making me stumble, James lost the look of indifference he had plastered to his face.

A moment of anger passed over him, moving around until he was between me and the unfortunate man who had tripped into me. Protecting me, he glared at the cameraman before pushing me out of the crowd, to my relief. The fresh air rushed down into my lungs, making my moment of panic subside.

It didn't seem to calm down James in the slightest however. He speed walked us both down the road, with the paparazzi running to keep up with us. Along the side, I could see other students I knew, other adults I'd always see walking around Hogsmeade, who had run out of the way of the stampede that seemed to be following us. James only stopped when we were inside Joe's.

Joe Russo, the man I'd only met once before this came rushing out of the door, ushering us into the private section.

"Be gone!" He yelled from outside. "Away with you vultures." After a few moments, and a lot of eavesdropping on my part, Joe came running back in.

"Vermin!" Joe mumbled. "The lot of them. They're bored of their own lives so they darken everyone else's." He carried on muttering to himself as he lead us into the main private dining suite.

"Are you okay?" James fumed next to me.

"Are _you_ okay?" I asked pointedly. At this moment, I was the calmer of us both.

"Course I'm fine." He waved my question off. I didn't reply, I just walked quietly after Joe waiting for the rant that was inevitable.

"That guy really could have hurt you! Or the baby!" He seethed. "He should have been more careful. Especially seeing as that was the first time any of them saw you in person…."

"We're both fine." I interrupted. "I was wearing the two hour invisibump anyway. There's no way that they would know I was pregnant. Not that it wasn't scary being stuck in the middle of all those people. I don't think I could've done it if you weren't there."

"I didn't think!" He said, now angry at himself. "I've been so used to being left alone in Hogsmeade lately, that I forgot they used to come here whenever there was big news to cover." He said the last part very sourly.

"It's not your fault." I said sternly, knowing he'd blame himself. "I told you, you got me out of it." I tried to get comfortable, but the invisibump under my top was irritating me. "Any chance you could help me get this off? I've had it on nearly two hours."

James reached behind me and unclipped the invisibump. As soon as it fell of my waist from under my top, my stomach appeared as if from nowhere. "That's better." I sighed.

Joe sat us down at the table in the room, before leaving in the direction of the kitchens. It took until he returned with the menus to calm James down.

"How do you do it?"

James looked up from his menu in confusion. "Do what?"

"Act so calmly when you're surrounded by them." I quickly added afterwards, "Before that guy bumped into me."

He looked away in thought. "Just used to it I guess. You learn the right way to deal with it. If you keep your facial expressions controlled, and walk as if they aren't there, you're not giving them what they want. What they want is the rise, they want you to stop and acknowledge them, they want you to feel as if you have no where to go."

I took in all he had just said. "You ready to order?" He asked, making me nod in response. He waved Joe over to the table.

"What can I get the lady?" He said, pulling his notebook from his pocket.

"I'll have the lasagne." I responded, "And some butter beer please." Joe took my menu, and turned to James.

"I'll have the same." He said, passing the menu over to Joe. "How's Annette?"

"She's good." Joe grinned. "She's looking forward to her visit to your house during Easter. You can see her impatience at waiting."

Joe walked off to give our orders directly to the chef. "Annette Ryan is going to be at yours while I'm there?" I asked, already star struck at the thought.

"Relax." James laughed. "You'll like her, and she's really down to earth." He then chuckled to himself.

"What?" I pouted. Making him laugh louder. "What's so funny?"

"You." He smiled. "You know in our world, the Potters and the Weasleys are a lot more famous than Annette Ryan. And yet you're more comfortable around us than anyone else."

"I grew up with some people in your family. I've known your brother since first year."

He shook his head in amusement. "Sometimes I just don't get you. But it's all stuff I can't wait to learn about."

_Can anyone say 'swoon'?_

"You sure are good with words Mister Potter." I sighed, causing James to smirk.

"Why thank you Miss Swann."

* * *

><p>When the meal was over, Joe volunteered to make sure the paparazzi weren't waiting for us outside. After a few minutes he returned to our room.<p>

"No one's outside." He informed. "If they were, I'd be shocked. They'd have to have a lot of patience, after all you two have been in here for hours."

"Can you help me get this thing back on?" I said, pointing at the invisibump laying next to the table. I knew just how uncomfortable the article of clothing would be, but it only had to be on for the journey back to the castle.

We thanked Joe for checking, and James left a big tip, before we left the restaurant.

Walking back along Hogsmeade road, He took my hand, reminding me that we didn't have to hide anymore. I moved closer, and he held me against his side as we started the trek.

As we passed Madam Puddifoots, we paused when we saw Holly and Adam get chased out of café, dragging a struggling cupid behind them. The door hadn't long banged shut behind them, when Madam Puddifoot herself came running out cussing.

"….and don't you two come back again!" She yelled. "You're bard!"

They looked at each other, shrugged, and catapulted the one cupid they had left straight at her face. She shrieked, fell to the floor, and ran back in.

They laughed together across the road, until Adam started fidgeting, and scuffing his shoe against the floor. He looked extremely nervous. His reason for why was clear, when he leaned in to Holly to kiss her. Or he would have, if Holly hadn't been surprised at his sudden movement, and done some sort of weird spasm.

The result being both their foreheads smacked together, and they clutched at their own foreheads in pain.

"Sorry!" Holly shouted. "My bad!"

Adam looked dizzy. "I think I'm seeing birds!"

"Oh my god! Me too!" Holly said in excitement. "How awesome is that?" Adam didn't find it as exciting, but had a determined look on his face.

"Stay still this time." He said, although it sounded more like a question. When she nodded, he leaning in once more and this time caught her lips in a slow romantic kiss.

"Awwwww." I whispered to James, who found amusement in the fact I found the scene extremely cute.

"Let's give them a bit of privacy, shall we?" He dragged me away, smiling the whole time as I made my next statement.

"But she won't leave _us_ alone!"

**A/N: I am so so so so so so sorry for how long it took me to update.**

**So Valentine's day will be in the next chapter. And James' surprise. Also both Jack and Aiden will be back in the next chapter as well.**

**Sneaky Peaky.**

_"GO! GO! GO!" Holly shrieked, running from her bed to mine and holding my arms down._

_"What?" I looked around madly, confused at everyone's movement. Dom pulled a box out of her dressing table. Rose had chucked a bag that was hidden under her bed to James, who had slung it on the floor near him, and started getting dressed._

_"They're my distraction." He smirked, pulling on his trousers._

_"You said Holly didn't know the surprise!" I shouted in disbelief._

_James paused in his dressing. "Well, none of the other's were crazy enough to hold you down, so you couldn't follow me. They didn't want to incur your wrath." He grabbed his shirt form next to my bed. "Don't worry, she'll let go soon."_

_"Holly! If you don't let go of me right now, I'll….." No one heard the rest of my speech, because Holly decided to practically yell "LALALALALALALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"._

_She didn't even have her ears covered to make it more believable._

**Adam will bring you a plate to chuck at me. For being such an awful person and not updating sooner.**

**nmegirl**


	48. My Valentine's Day is Very Romantic

"I love waking up next to you." I mumbled, snuggling closer to James, and squinting at the light coming in from the window.

"Right back at you." He grinned. "Happy Valentine's day."

I smiled leaning up to kiss him my response. "Happy Valentine's day to you as well." James looked down at me for a few seconds, before looking up at the room around us.

"Okay Holly, you can start now."

"GO! GO! GO!" Holly shrieked, running from her bed to mine and holding my arms down.

"What?" I looked around madly, confused at everyone's movement. Dom pulled a box out of her dressing table. Rose had chucked a bag that was hidden under her bed to James, who had slung it on the floor near him, and started getting dressed.

"They're my distraction." He smirked, pulling on his trousers.

"You said Holly didn't know the surprise!" I shouted in disbelief.

James paused in his dressing. "Well, none of the other's were crazy enough to hold you down, so you couldn't follow me. They didn't want to incur your wrath." He grabbed his shirt from next to my bed. "Don't worry, she'll let go soon."

"Holly! If you don't let go of me right now, I'll….." No one heard the rest of my speech, because Holly decided to practically yell "LALALALALALALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!".

She didn't even have her ears covered to make it more believable.

"See you later!" James grinned, turning around and walking around the dorm.

"IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE ROMANTIC?" I yelled after his retreating form, making the others giggle. "This isn't even a little bit funny!"

"It is from where I'm standing." Dom laughed.

"Do you happen to be standing with one foot in the grave? Because I'll happily give you a push if you don't stop laughing." I grumbled, deciding to stop being so dramatic, and wait out the strange 'footlock' that Holly currently had my left leg in.

"Is he gone?" Holly stage whispered to Rose, who was standing closest to the door. Rose peeked out, looking down the staircase.

She nodded. "He's gone."

Holly let go of me, and proceeded to sprint into the bathroom locking the door. Quickly followed by me sprinting after her, and banging my fist against the door.

"GET OUT HERE NOW!" I fumed.

I heard a scoff from inside the bathroom. "No Thanks! You're being neurotic. Go stand on the other side of the dorm please."

"Like that's going to happen!"

"Don't make me use the shower head on you." Holly sounded affronted. "I was only playing my part so that James could go do his selfless romantic boyfriend role for your first Valentine's Day together. Don't you want it to be special?"

I spent a few moments playing everything Holly had just said through my head. I did want it to be special. And let's face it, if Holly hadn't held me down, there's no way I would have let James leave without an explanation, probably ruining the whole day.

_At least I know that no child I have will be able to sneak out to parties in the middle of the night. They won't be able to get past me and my neurotic maternal ways._

"Alright." I said under my breath. "I'm sorry." I walked to my bed and dropped down onto it.

"That's it?" Rose said, looking shocked. "You're not going to kill her?"

Dom added "Threaten her?"

"Hold Speedy to ransom?" Rose looked seriously worried for my health.

"I can see where she's coming from, I guess." I stated unwillingly. "Holly you can come out now." The bathroom door clicked open, and Holly poked her head around the edge, still holding the shower head.

Dom was gaping at me. "You're maturing by the second. I don't like it."

I laughed at her reaction, which quickly escalated into a full blown laughing fit when I remembered how crazy I had been acting while I was held down.

"Yep, she's lost it. The pregnancy has really screwed her up." Rose chuckled. "I'd hate to see how Holly would be if she was ever knocked up."

* * *

><p>"….as you can guess from it's name, the self-fertilising shrub has the ability to get the nutrients it needs to grow healthily without the aid of mooncalf dung, like so many others. Can anyone tell me why this is?" Professor Longbottom scanned the room for students with the answer.<p>

"It's flesh eating, so it gets all it's nutrients from it's diet." Rose answered, hand still raised. "It has magical properties which enable the diet to be converted into minerals, ions and molecules that allow it to 'self-fertilise'."

"Very good Miss Weasley." Beaming in response, the professor added "Ten points for Gryffindor. Now what we use these shrubs for…"

"This is the most boring plant I have ever studied in the entire time I've spent in this school." Al droned, head resting on his arms.

I grimaced in agreement, trying to keep my eyes open so I at least looked like I was listening. "Whatever happened to chasing plants around the greenhouse?"

Al snorted. "At least I got some exercise."

"You're on the Quidditch team." I stated. "Surely you get enough exercise from that?" He shrugged before putting his head back on his arm.

"Damn it." Dom groaned, as she snapped the quill she was writing with. "That was Parisian. I'm not going back to France until the summer and that was my last one." she sighed before putting it back in her back. "Any of you got a spare I can use?"

"Sure." I said, turning to my bag by the side of my chair. Rooting through it in search of a quill, my hand hit something prickly. "Ow!" I yelled in shock, pulling my hand out of my bag like I'd burnt it.

"You okay?" Al asked, looking concerned.

I nodded in his direction, before reaching back into my bag carefully. Pulling my books aside, I saw the source of my pain, and pulled it out.

"Why is there a rose in my bag?" I asked no one in particular. Rose was grinning from where she was sitting.

"I don't know!" She gasped mockingly. "Is there a label or anything?" I looked back down at the rose, only now noticing the tag attached to the stem.

_Amy,_

_It's hard trying to think of the perfect way to make our first Valentine's Day extra special. But I'm hoping that this is a good way to start._

_These roses will be left around the school, with messages attached to each one to let you know where the next rose is hidden. Your prize will be found at the end._

_Happy Hunting._

_Love James_

_P.S. Message 1: The second rose is hidden in our snogging alcove._

It took all my energy not to sigh. Clearly the others all knew what was happening, as they were sending each other knowing looks behind my back.

"How long have you all known James was planning this?" I asked.

"A few weeks."

"Give or take a day or two."

"James was planning something?" We all looked to Holly in confusion. The look on her face showed she was being completely serious.

"If you didn't realise James was planning something, why did you tackle Amy this morning?" Dom said what everyone else was already thinking.

"He asked me too and it looked fun." Holly shrugged.

* * *

><p>Looking back and forwards like I was an undercover spy, I slipped into the alcove during the break between lessons.<p>

Pure skill. I really should consider that career as a spy.

The flower was propped into the bracket that held the candles on the wall, clear for anyone to see. At least, only if they knew this alcove existed.

Reaching up, I pulled the rose down so I could read the next message.

_I knew you'd be able to find this one, the next clues will be slightly trickier._

_Message 2: You'll find the next flower in a room where dramatic moments take place._

_Love James_

_P.S. I love the way your nose crinkles when you grin._

Difficult? This clue wasn't even tricky. It was only a few days ago that I'd brought the subject up with him. I'd told him that if Hogwarts ever held a drama class, it would take place in _that_ classroom. The same one that Jack had seen my bump. The same one where James had first thought he wouldn't be able to be a good dad.

If I ever went into labour in this castle, I can pretty much guarantee that it'll happen when I'm in a charms lesson.

Seeing as there was likely to be lessons happening in there all day, the only time I could look for the rose would be in a break.

No time like the present.

Sneaking out of the alcove, in a similar spying style I'd used to get in there in the first place, I began the trek to the charms classroom across the castle.

As romantic as this is, James clearly didn't take my pregnancy into account when he chose the hiding places for the messages. I was out of breath by the time I reached the Charms classroom. And class started in ten minutes, giving me probably less than that to find the rose.

Standing in the middle of all the desks, I scanned the room. This one had to be a good hiding place, otherwise, what stopped a random student picking it up and taking it. If I missed even one flower, I couldn't continue on the 'treasure hunt' or whatever this was.

If I was James where would I hide it? Where would be the last place anyone would look?

I grinned. Not once had I ever seen the Charms professor use his top desk drawers, preferring the ones closer to the ground. No student would ever dare look in them either. Looking at my watch, I found that I had five minutes to open the drawer and search.

Turns out I didn't need all that time to look. As soon as I'd opened the drawer using '_Alohomora_', I saw the rose lying in the empty drawer. Pulling it out eagerly, I read the next message.

_You're getting good at solving these clues._

_Message 3: The fourth rose can be found in the room where a certain confrontation took place. The one which decided whether or not we would go public with our relationship._

_Love James_

_P.S. I love how you bite your lip whenever you're nervous._

I frowned this time. Even though the little comments that James had been leaving were enough to make even Filch's heart melt, I couldn't look past the clue that he'd left me.

He obviously meant the seventh year dormitory.

I hadn't been in there since Jack had found out, and apart from the odd occasion, neither had James. It would be beyond awkward if I just casually walked in.

"Miss Swann, I don't think you have charms now."

I jumped, turning around to see Professor Flitwick standing in the doorway. I was relieved that I had thought to close the drawer earlier.

"I was just wandering sir." I replied quickly. "I'll be off now."

"Best be quick." He said. "The next class will start any minute." I smiled briefly, walking out of the classroom swiftly.

The next clue had to wait. I had to get to Potions.

* * *

><p>"This class is dragging." I complained, pouring in the snail slime into my cauldron.<p>

Dom smirked. "You just want to get back to your Valentine's day trail."

I scoffed at her mocking me. "You would too if your handsome, dreamy boyfriend was leaving you roses and little romantic messages all over the place. By the way, how _is_ boyfriend number five?"

She sighed. "Getting clingy. You know sometimes, I really wish I didn't have these stupid Veela genes. I never know if they like me for my personality, or just my looks."

Rose pretended to gasp. " Are you saying that you, Dominique Weasley, have decided you're ready for more than a _fling_?" I stifled my laughter.

"Oh shut it Rose." Dom snapped. "Just because you are in a serious relationship with Malfoy doesn't mean you can judge." Her expression changed from angry to wonder in a heartbeat. "Speaking of which, I haven't seen you two together in a while. Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." She explained. "We just thought it would be a good idea not to get caught snogging in classrooms any more. Especially after James' reaction." Her eyes lifted to me over her cauldron ever so slightly. "Could you have a word with him Ames? Get him to see that me having a boyfriend is not the end of the world? It would make Easter a lot easier."

I frowned in confusion. "What's happening during Easter?"

Rose, to my amazement, blushed. "Scorpius is coming over to the burrow for dinner at some point."

Dom actually started choking, she was laughing so hard. "This Easter is gunna be a blast! Two lots of 'meet the parents'. If you think you should be nervous Ames, it's nothing compared to what Malfoy should be feeling. Ron is gunna go all overprotective father on him."

"No he's not!" Rose said sharply. "Mum's already said that she'd speak to him about going over the top."

"Whatever." Dom waved away her attitude. "Can I have front row seats?" Before Rose could even answer back, there was a loud banging, and a shout coming from the storage cupboard.

"Isn't Holly in there?" I whispered, as Professor Grayson walked over to the door.

When the door was opened, everyone could see Holly sat on the floor, with a grey bucket over her head, and what looked like Bulbadox juice all over her.

"Can someone help me out of this thing?" She called, voice slightly muffled. "It's really dark and I'm really scared."

* * *

><p>Climbing the stairs up to the boys' dormitory, my heart was pounding. Avoiding Jack was harder than I thought, physically and emotionally.<p>

As I reached the door, I heard movement from inside. Deciding to do it quickly, I opened the door.

From where I was standing in the doorway, I could see Jack standing next to James' bed, holding the rose in one hand, and the note in the other. The flower had clearly been on James' bed.

"Hi." I said quietly.

"Hi." He replied. He looked down at his hands, before looking back up, and silently handing both items to me.

"Thank you." I whispered, knowing that the message hadn't been in an envelope or covered in any way. Jack must have already read what was written.

_By now you're probably wondering how many more messages you're going to have to find. So stop thinking. There's only one more._

_Message four: Find the last rose in the tower where I asked you out for the first time._

_Love James._

_P.S. I love how much you care about your family. How much you worry about what they think and feel._

I finished reading the message and looked back up to Jack, who was still staring at me. The awkward silence wasn't made any more comfortable by the goldfish impressions I was doing, trying to decide what to say.

"I miss you." Jack said, breaking the ice.

"I miss you too." I replied. "I don't like this fighting."

Jack's face, although he looked like he wanted to talk, turned slightly colder. "We wouldn't be fighting if you listened to me."

"Can we not?" I sighed. "I've already made my decision. I'm sick and tired of avoiding you, so can't we just not talk about the great big elephant that's standing in the corner. Nothing you say is going to change my mind about this baby, and I'm too exhausted to keep arguing."

He hesitated. "I still don't agree…."

"Then just ignore my supposed _problem_. I want to be able to stand in the same room as you, and not worry that I'll find judgement in your eyes when I look up."

Jack sighed, running his fingers through his hair in a manner that reminded me clearly of James doing the same thing. "Do you really care what we all think that much?"

I thought back to what James had written on the message._ P.S. I love how much you care about your family. How much you worry about what they think and feel._

I realised exactly why James had left that particular message in his dorm. Where _any_ of the boys could find it. He wanted Jack to know exactly what I thought of my family.

He was trying to repair the relationship that Jack and I had once shared, even if his bond with him was irreparable.

"Of course I do." I said, honesty pouring out in my voice. "I love you all too much _not_ to."

"It's good to talk to you again." Jack replied. "Even if we're clearly ignoring….."

"It's good to talk to you too." I cut him off, trying to stay away from the subject that had damaged our connection in the first place. When he was ready, or when he'd gotten use to the idea of me having a baby, I'd broach the subject with him. I looked down at the note and flower in my hands. "I really have to go, I have to get to my last lesson before…."

"It's okay." He said. His tone evident that he knew I was going to find the next rose. As I turned to leave however, he whispered something else to me.

"He really loves you, doesn't he?"

I turned to see doubt in his eyes, whether it was aimed at James' feelings or Jack's actions I couldn't tell.

I nodded, and walked out of the dorm.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me? Amy Swann?" I turned as I left the final class of the day.<p>

"That's me." I stated, "What's up?"

The shy second year looked hesitant as she pulled a letter from her pocket. "Someone gave me this to give to you."

I took the letter from her, expecting it to look like the messages James had been giving me, thinking that this was a new idea he was trying. However, it was in an envelope, and not attached to a rose of any kind.

"Who gave this to you?" I said, but when I span to where the girl had been standing, she'd already left. I shrugged to myself before tearing open the letter.

_Amy Swann,_

_I hope you don't mind me saying this in a letter, what with me being too shy to come find you, and say this in person._

_I really like you. Although you may think this is really lame, I just really wanted you to know that._

_Be my valentine._

_Lots of love, your secret admirer x_

Well this was unexpected.

I kind of felt for the person. I use to know what it was like, to like someone and not have the feeling returned. All the boyfriends I had tried to have, after my brother had scared them away.

Though they had to know I was dating James by now, and that I wouldn't do anything to mess it up with him. I decided to worry about it another time.

Luckily, it was the end of the day, but instead of heading to dinner I ran straight for the astronomy tower. The rose that James had left had just been stuck in one of the grooves in the stone wall.

_You've found all the roses, now there's only one thing left to find._

_Your prize._

_You'll find it where we had our first proper kiss._

_Love James._

_P.S. I love the fact that I met you._

I looked up from the note, over the side of the tower, towards the Quidditch pitch.

The place that we kissed for the first time in the middle of the storm.

In the distance I could see someone flying around on their broomstick. Someone wearing red Quidditch robes, and had black hair. I smiled, before running out the castle, to where my boyfriend was waiting for me.

**A/N: What's the prize? Did you like the little messages that James was leaving Amy? And who sent the secret letter?**

**You know I love to hear what you think.**

**You all deserve to read a sneak peek**

_"Hey!" I yelled, as the girl sped up her steps, clearly trying to avoid me._

_Either that or she really had somewhere to be. And was deaf. And blind._

_"I'm not gunna do anything." I said softly, catching up to her. Although very pregnant, disguised obviously. Her small legs couldn't get away from me very fast. "I just wanted to know who gave you the letter to give to me the other day."_

_"I didn't see them." She squeaked, looking terrified. "I don't know who they were, this is nothing to do with me." She was glancing around the corridor like she was checking no one had seen us talking._

_"It's okay." I soothed, not understanding why she was so scared to even be seen speaking with me. "I was just wondering that's all. It's not everyday you get a letter sent to you that wasn't using an owl." I tried to laugh it off so that the girl would relax, but she's didn't even move, frozen in place._

_Realisation spread over my face, making her terrified gaze look even more scared. "You know who gave it to you don't you."_

_Her mouth was moving frantically, but no words were coming out. Eventually, it was as if a dam had broken, and the truth came flying out. "He told me not to tell you who he was. That it was a secret, and if I told you he would make the rest of my time in Hogwarts miserable. I didn't want to do it but he scared me into it."_

_"Calm down." I whispered, pulling her into a hug. She was shaking. "Me and my friends won't let anything happen to you, okay?" The girl nodded hesitantly, wanting to believe me._

_"Why don't you tell me who he is?"_

**Review! It makes my day!**

**nmegirl**


	49. My Fear of Broomsticks is Not Funny

Reaching the pitch, James flew down to me with a big grin on his face.

"I knew you'd find them all." He smiled. "Have you had dinner yet?" Shaking my head, his grin, if possible, got wider. "Good! Now I can give you your prize."

As confusion crept on my face, James moved off his broom and handed it to me. Realisation and horror dawned on me.

"No way. There is no way I'm flying on that thing." James smirked at my response. "It's a twig. That's basically all it is, a twig with a spell on it, and spells easily fade. Otherwise how would people who make invisibility cloaks and broomsticks make any profit?"

"I know you're not a fan of flying….." He started to say but I cut him off.

"That's a very mild way of putting it. I'd use phrases such as 'shit scared' and 'fricking terrified of broomsticks'."

James just stood there smiling, not even put off in the slightest at my hatred of flying. "First of all, a broomstick is not a twig." _Remind me not to insult his beloved broomstick again. I think he may love it more than me_. "And secondly, you won't be up there on your own. I'll be on it with you and I'll be flying it. What kind of father to be would I be if I sent my pregnant girlfriend up on a broomstick when you can't fly?

"I can fly!" I protested, to which James just scoffed.

"Flying a broomstick two feet of the ground and crashing it into the shed when you were six does not count."

"Jack told you that?" I groaned.

He laughed. "A couple of years ago, when he didn't think I'd ever have a romantic interest in you. Now will you get on the broomstick?"

"Is that a euphemism?" I responded, trying not to think about what James really wanted me to do. He ignored my comment, and held out his Firebolt 360 for me to take. I held it as far away from my body as I could in shaky hands. "Now what?"

James just shook his head in amusement. "Normally this is the point where the flyer gets_ on_ the broomstick.." I glared at him before climbing on. Once I was, James slid on naturally behind me and reached around to hold the handle.

"Is this the prize?" I asked, hesitant to receive the answer.

"No." He chuckled. "This is just the transport to get to the prize."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god." I said, letting out a small smile since holding the Firebolt. "I was beginning to think you didn't know me at all."

"On the count of three, you need to kick off the ground so that we both do it at the same time. After that I can do everything. You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I grumbled.

"One….two…..THREE!" I kicked off as hard as I could, and heard, rather than felt, the wind rush by.

"Please don't let me fall." I whispered. Clearly James had heard me.

"I never will."

* * *

><p>When I felt the ground beneath my feet again, I let out a sigh of relief. I absolutely hated flying, even if it was slightly better this time thanks to James holding me around the middle with one of his arms.<p>

The relief however, was quickly replaced with shock. "You did all this?"

He leaned the Firebolt against the wall, and turned to me. "Do you like it?

"Yes of course I do." The sun had already set, so the scene was underneath the moonlight. A large blanket had been placed on the ground, with candles in the middle, which had already been lit. Plates of food were scattered all over the blanket, and two wine goblets were standing next to it.

"Is that wine? I can't drink."

James gave me a look of disbelief. "I know you can't drink, the goblets have butterbeer in them. Somehow tankards didn't quite go with the mood."

I chuckled, before letting him direct me to where I should sit. "How did you find this place?" We were sitting on a flat roof, with amazing views of the Hogwarts grounds.

"I used to just fly around the pitch when I was younger, but then I started flying around the castle and grounds as well. It was more of an adventure."

"Thank you." I said sincerely. "This is amazing."

"To start with we have Bouillabaisse, followed by shepherds pie. Then if you have room left, you can try my specialty, treacle tart."

"You made the treacle tart?" I asked, amazed.

He grinned. "I made all of it. My Aunt Fleur taught me how to made Bouillabaisse. She told me that only a true French person could teach me how to make it perfectly. My Grandma taught me how to make Shepherds pie."

"And the treacle tart?"

"That would be my Dad." He said proudly. "Dad always said that treacle tart was his favourite dessert. So when I was really young, he learnt how to make it from cookbooks, house elves and a lot of advice from Weasleys. Then when I was older, I wanted to learn."

"You just keep surprising me Potter."

* * *

><p>"I had an amazing night." I said standing outside the portrait hole. Luckily or unluckily, depending on how you see it, the fat lady wasn't in her frame. Although we could have a private conversation before heading into the common room, we wouldn't be able to go in until she was back.<p>

"I'm glad." He said resting his forehead on my own. "Do I get a pass for our first Valentine's Day?"

"I'll give you an Outstanding." I giggled. "I'm just sad that it's over. We've got to wait a whole year until the next one."

James looked pensive after I'd said that. "It doesn't have to be over. Come with me." Then instead of staying and waiting for the fat lady to come back, he pulled me off in another direction.

We walked for a few minutes before I realised where we were going. Staying silent, we both made our way to the seventh floor corridor, and stopped outside a very familiar blank wall. James didn't let go of me for a second, pulling me up and down the corridor three times before a door materialised in front of us.

Only now did he let go, and gesture for me to go in. Eager to find out what he's thought of for a room, I walked swiftly to the door and pushed it open.

Everything was recognisable, though a lot clearer than it was the last time I was in this room. The rug that was right by the door, which I hadn't paid that much attention to as I fell on it. The four poster bed where we'd spent the majority of the night. The light bracket on the wall where my dress had been hanging from the morning after.

"You remembered everything." I whispered in wonder. I turned to find James leaning against the wall, watching my reaction to see if I recognised it.

"A few things were blurry about that night, but I remembered the room…and I remembered you."

I took small tentative steps to where he was standing until I was standing right in front of him.

"I love you." He said.

I smiled in response. "I love you too." He tilted my chin up and kissed me. After a few minutes of gentle and romantic kisses, things started to heat up. He picked me up and carried me to the bed, not even batting an eyelid at the weight of both me and baby.

We made out on the bed for a while, before items of clothing started to be shed. First came James' Quidditch robes, which were harder than I first thought to take off.

"Seriously," I said, breaking the kiss. "How many layers are there to this thing?" He chuckled, helping me to take it off him. Finally, when he was just in his boxers, he started on mine.

After he'd pulled off 'his' jumper I'd been wearing, his lips moved down my neck to my collar bone, while his hands started to undo the buttons of my shirt.

"I could get used to this." I sighed. Once it had been opened and my bump was exposed, he moved down to it and placed the lightest kiss to the biggest part of the bump.

The small show of affection he had just shown _our_ baby made my heart melt. All of a sudden, I didn't want to do this anymore. I needed to do it. The affection I'd felt for James had turned into a rush of desire I felt for this amazing guy, and nothing could compare to how much I loved him.

And the best part was that Holly wasn't going to burst in and ruin the moment.

When he brought his face back to mine, I could see a look of hunger in his eyes, which I'm sure was reflected in my own.

When both of us were just in our underwear, I pushed myself against him, eager for as much skin contact as possible. It was difficult however, what with a great big belly in the way. But James didn't look irritated in the slightest. If anything, his expression changed from hunger to wonder, as his hand caressed the bump.

He looked up to me. "Are you sure?"

I couldn't help it, I giggled. "Couple months too late for that isn't it?" James grinned but repeated the question once more.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

* * *

><p>"So I'm walking down the corridor, and there are these five little first years innocently talking by the door of the Transfiguration classroom," Holly said, munching on some toast and holding Adam's hand. who was trying to see how many bits of bacon he could throw at unsuspecting Hufflepuffs without them knowing. "minding my own business, when McGonagall starts going nuts. She's yelling at me, and telling me I have detentions every evening for the rest of the week, and I'm just standing there with no clue what I did wrong."<p>

While me, James and the girls are all sitting there confused, Al bursts into laughter at her story. "I'd just like to say that I was there for McGonagall's outburst, and I can say that it wasn't entirely uncalled for." Al then went back to subtly chuckling as he ate his breakfast.

"Yes it was!" Holly shouted, looking affronted.

"I think you left a vital part out of that story Hols."

She looked confused. "Did I?"

"The bit where you karate chopped on of the little first years' face and made her cry." I literally spat the juice I had in my mouth across the table I was laughing so hard.

"It's not funny!" Holly shrieked, as we all cried with laughter. "The little squirt was laughing at Speedy's costume."

"And she called Tweety Pie _cute_." Adam visibly shuddered.

We all looked in the direction of the two cats. Speedy was dressed as Woody from Toy Story, and Tweety Pie had been dressed up a Little Bo Peep.

"Anyway, McGonagall should be used to me by now." Holly said in a tone that suggested it was the end of the conversation. She then turned to Adam. "How many bacon pieces have you thrown?"

"Fifteen." He said proudly. "And she keeps looking at the Slytherin table, so I think she thinks it's them."

"Hey guys, mind if I sit by you lot today?" Aiden asked, squeezing in between me and Holly.

I didn't answer as I was too busy glaring at my bowl of museli, before looking at the bowl of bacon with such longing. "but throwing bacon at people is such a waste."

James leaned over, put some bacon on a plate and put it next to me. I was shocked. He usually told me to 'eat my museli' if I even _looked_ at a fried egg.

"Couldn't hurt to eat a little unhealthily every now and then right?"

I don't think he expected to reaction I gave him. Otherwise when I bear hugged him, he wouldn't have fallen off the bench and onto the floor.

"I'm sorry." I think he would have believed me a bit more if I wasn't grinning at the idea of eating bacon.

"Why are you so surprised?" Holly asked. "He got laid so he want's to give you everything you could possibly want!"

This time it wasn't me who spat juice across the table. Aiden looked so uncomfortable and disgusted at where the conversation was heading. "She's my sister. I don't want to hear stuff like that."

As James picked himself off the floor, I started to protest "We didn't….." but Holly interrupted me.

"Of course you didn't." She rolled her eyes. "That's why you two came back to the dormitory at midnight, excruciatingly happy and sporting the worst sex hair I've seen in a while."

"Seriously guys, I'm still here." Aiden said in a dead tone.

"Can we change the topic?" Al said. "As much fun as it is discussing James and Amy's sex life," Aiden shivered violently in disgust. "It's not what I had in mind for breakfast conversation." As they changed the subject, I didn't listen to what it was. As I had been focusing on someone who had just walked in the the hall.

"Does anyone know who that is?" I said, stopping the conversation, and pointing at the girl.

"That's Annabel Delaney." Rose said. "Second year Hufflepuff, quite shy, doesn't talk much."

Dom asked "Why?"

"No reason." I ended the discussion. Everyone went back to talking, but I stayed staring at her. Annabel had been the girl who had given me the letter. The one from my 'secret admirer'.

I kept glancing at her all through breakfast, and when she got up to leave, I made an excuse to follow her.

"I left one of my books in the dorm, I'll just run up, get it and meet you lot outside Charms." I said to Al, Holly, Dom and Rose.

James didn't look enthusiastic at my plan. "Do you want me to get it for you? It's quite far?"

"I'll be fine." I said, kissing him goodbye. "I'll see you at lunch." I quickly walked out, so I was halfway up the bench when she walked out the door. When I'd left the hall as well however, she was no where to be seen. I couldn't have been more then ten seconds behind her.

* * *

><p>"What do you want for your birthday?" James asked that night.<p>

"It's not for two weeks yet." I replied, distracted. I'd been searching all day for Annabel, it was like she had disappeared.

"Yeah but I want to get you something awesome. So I need time to get it."

"I dunno, surprise me."

James looked worried. "Are you okay? You've been really distracted lately." I snapped my head to look at him.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"I don't know, you were like it at lunch and dinner as well." I shook my head, smiling.

"I'm fine, just got a lot on my mind."

He calmed down the worried look a bit. "Do you want to share? I'm excellent at solving problems, just ask my sister."

"Are you talking about the boyfriends you've scared off?"

"Definitely!" He grinned as I sighed. "You should let her have them you know. Do you remember how annoyed I was with Jack when he tried to control me?"

"This is different."

I scoffed. "Of course it is. Because Lily is your sister, and I was Jack's."

* * *

><p>It had been days since I had learned the girls name, and I still hadn't managed to find her. It was a week until my birthday as well, and I was sure James was planning something with my dormmates.<p>

"Can I come in yet?" I said standing outside my dorm door.

"Not yet!" Rose yelled out.

"What about now?"

"We'll be ages yet!" Dom shouted. This was swifted followed by Holly shrieking "Go find something else to do!"

"Fine!" I yelled back so they, and especially James, could hear me. "I'm going to go for a walk, on my own, where anything could happen." I waited for James' protective streak to kick in.

"Have fun!" He replied. Fine then. I really will go for a walk.

Later that evening, I found that casually walking down the corridor is quite peaceful. I should go for walks for no apparent reason more often. Which means not saying anything other than a quick hello to anyone who passes me.

Which is surprisingly hard when a girl you've been trying to speak to all week walks past.

"Annabel!" I shouted, making her look up. "Wait there, I need to talk to you." Her eyes widened significantly.

"Hey!" I yelled, as the girl sped up her steps, clearly trying to avoid me.

Either that or she really had somewhere to be. And was deaf. And blind.

"I'm not gunna do anything." I said softly, catching up to her. Although very pregnant, disguised obviously, her small legs couldn't get away from me very fast. "I just wanted to know who gave you the letter to give to me the other day."

"I didn't see them." She squeaked, looking terrified. "I don't know who they were, this is nothing to do with me." She was glancing around the corridor like she was checking no one had seen us talking.

"It's okay." I soothed, not understanding why she was so scared to even be seen speaking with me. "I was just wondering that's all. It's not everyday you get a letter sent to you that wasn't using an owl." I tried to laugh it off so that the girl would relax, but she's didn't even move, frozen in place.

Realisation spread over my face, making her terrified gaze look even more scared. "You know who gave it to you don't you."

Her mouth was moving frantically, but no words were coming out. Eventually, it was as if a dam had broken, and the truth came flying out. "He told me not to tell you who he was. That it was a secret, and if I told you he would make the rest of my time in Hogwarts miserable. I didn't want to do it but he scared me into it."

"Calm down." I whispered, pulling her into a hug. She was shaking. "Me and my friends won't let anything happen to you, okay?" The girl nodded hesitantly, wanting to believe me.

"Why don't you tell me who he is?"

She hesitated. "And you promise that he won't do anything to me?"

I smiled reassuringly. "I'm going to do my very best to make sure that doesn't happen." She glanced once more around the hall, before leaning in to whisper his name in my ear.

**A/N: Cliffie! Wow I should just write an episode for Eastenders :P I think I'd be rather good at it.**

**I'm sure you all hate me now, but I'm just evil like that. At least know that you'll find out who it was next chapter. And for those who are looking forward to Easter, it will happen either next chapter or the one after that.**

**PREVIEW!**

_"So what do you want for your birthday?" Rose asked, lying back on the ground and closing her eyes._

_"I'm not that fussed." I yawned, the heat making me sleepy. "Just as long as if I have to open it up in front of people, it doesn't scream 'I'M PREGNANT!'"._

_Dom sighed. "Just once, can't you give us a list of what you want?"_

_"Yeah, I mean_ hypothetically_," Holly said slowly. "If your best friend was slightly curious as to how much weight you've been putting on since you got knocked up, and she decided to buy you a set of weighing scales for your birthday, would that gift be welcome? Hypothetically speaking of course."_

_I looked at her with a bewildered and slightly hurt expression on my face. "No that would not be welcome! Why would you buy a pregnant person that?"_

_"I did say hypothetically!" Holly protested, before standing up. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go cancel a delivery of …something." She walked off leaving me dazed and confused._

_"But seriously," Dom snapped us back to the present. "Give us a list of stuff you want that you can open in front of everyone, and a list of stuff you need for the baby that you can open in the privacy of your own dorm."_

**Holly never will learn :P I am so sorry for how long this chapter took. My essay had to be written and handed in and now I'm on placement, which is long hours. Like I said however, I will never abandon this story, and I'm back to writing regularly.**

**nmegirl**


	50. My Birthday's Arrived

I was fuming.

The nerve that he had after acting like a complete asshole. And then to top it off, scaring a young kid into silence. I never thought that this guy would sink so low.

Heading to the common room door, I practically ran to confront him. _Well_, at least ran as fast as I could in my position.

Annabel deserved better than to be treated like a doormat.

Not to mention that she was now scared out of her wits that this guy would come after her and take revenge. No one deserved that. I'd be surprised if she wasn't shaking on her bed, staring at the door into her dorm.

I reached the common room entrance quicker than I realised. "Excuse me," I asked the nearest person out side the common room. I didn't want to have this confrontation in front of everyone. "Could you ask someone to meet me out here please?"

* * *

><p>"Just where do you get off threatening twelve year olds into submission?" I fumed, wanting to punch him so badly my fists were shaking at my sides.<p>

"She told you?" Jason answered in disbelief, his eyes darkening. "Clearly she didn't take my warning seriously enough."

"You go anywhere near her, and I swear you won't be able to_ walk_ again!" I warned. "Now answer my question"

Even though I thought I was rather intimidating in that moment, Jase seemed amused rather than scared. Leaning nonchalantly against the wall by the entrance, he said "There's no need to be so angry about it, I just tried to stop you finding out who sent you that note."

"But why would you even send it in the first place?" I questioned. "You know that I can't stand you! Why on earth would you think a letter would change anything?"

Pushing himself off the wall, he advanced towards me. "Like you would have even read a letter or listened if you knew it was me. But I'm not just trying to ruin your relationship or whatever. I really do want you back. I don't care what Jack thinks." He paused to scoff. "I mean, his reaction to me has got to be better that his reaction to James, right?"

I stepped back when he got too close. "And still, James stayed with me through all of Jack's shit. He didn't run as soon as Jack found out. He's a better man than you'll ever be."

The smirk fell off his face. "James Potter is an arrogant, egotistical son of a bitch. He loves the limelight and will do anything to stay in it."

"Shows how much you know then doesn't it?" I spat back. "He's kind and giving. Not once have I ever felt anything other than safe when I'm with him." Turning around, I walked away from him, determined to put as much space between us as I could. "I never want to talk to you again."

"YOU'LL REGRET NOT COMING BACK TO ME!" He yelled from behind me. "YOU MARK MY WORDS. IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, NO ONE CAN!"

I turned the corner, not once looking back.

* * *

><p>"….you mark my words, if I can't have you, no one can." Dom repeated, after I'd finished telling the girls what had happened when I'd confronted Jason.<p>

"Yep." I confirmed. "What does that even mean?"

"He could be trying to break you up." Rose said, lying next to an open Potions text book. _She had stopped reading to help me figure things out. I felt so loved._

"Still, doesn't it kind of ruin it for him to tell her what he's going to do?" Dom replied from her bed, rolling over onto her front. "I mean, telling her that he's going to break her and James up? Wouldn't that put her on her guard for anything weird happening?"

"Jason's not exactly the brightest candle in the pack." Rose argued. "He's more of a dramatic person."

"Look," I started. "Can we not say anything to James? It isn't important and I don't think it's a good idea to worry him for no good reason."

Before they could respond however, we were interrupted by an almighty snore, coming from Holly's curtain drawn bed. We all looked at each other in confusion.

"Holly doesn't snore…" I muttered under my breath. Picking up the broomstick that was lying underneath Dom's bed, and ignoring the indignant _"Hey"_'s that were coming from Dom because I was holding it like a baseball bat, I approached the bed slowly.

Pulling the curtains back slowly, I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Adam and Holly both asleep on her bed.

"It's just Adam." I said to the rest, dropping the broomstick without any care.

"What's he doing here?" Dom asked, walking across the room to pick up the broomstick I'd dropped thoughtlessly.

"You don't think they did anything do you?" Rose replied, making me scoff to stop from laughing out loud.

"The amount of time they had to get their first kiss right? It's going to take them at least a year before they're ready for that." I chuckled. "They're children at heart." Our giggles weren't quiet enough, and both Adam and Holly woke up.

"Wazzgoinon?" Holly mumbled, sitting up. I laughed even more before I realised they were surrounded by sheets of paper.

"What's all this for?" I said to them, gesturing at the paper. It took seconds for Holly and Adam to act alive.

Holly squealed and tried to lunge for the curtains. Unfortunately for her, she was tangled in the sheets, and ended up falling out the bed. At the same time, Adam had chucked himself on top of the all the sheets of paper, and grinned up at us as if he'd accomplished something.

"You can't see that!" Holly shouted, trying to pull herself out of the sheets. "It's plans for your birthday party!"

Of course it was. The tenth of March was in two days, which officially meant I was an adult. _Yay_.

"You haven't planned a massive party have you?" I groaned. "Because I don't know that many people, and so it's going to be pretty quiet."

Rose snorted. "Trust me this party is going to be huge." She climbed out of bed and sat next to Holly's bed.

"Who's going to even come?" I argued. "I promise you, I'll even bet ten galleons, no one is going to show up."

"I'll take that bet." Dom grinned. "

"So what do you want for your birthday?" Rose asked, lying back on the ground and closing her eyes.

"I'm not that fussed." I yawned, feeling sleepy. "Just as long as if I have to open it up in front of people, it doesn't scream 'I'M PREGNANT!'".

Dom sighed. "Just once, can't you give us a list of what you want?"

"Yeah, I mean _hypothetically_," Holly said slowly. "If your best friend was slightly curious as to how much weight you've been putting on since you got knocked up, and she decided to buy you a set of weighing scales for your birthday, would that gift be welcome? Hypothetically speaking of course."

I looked at her with a bewildered and slightly hurt expression on my face. "No that would not be welcome! Why would you buy a pregnant person that?"

"I did say hypothetically!" Holly protested, before standing up. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go cancel a delivery of …something." She walked off leaving me dazed and confused.

"But seriously," Dom snapped us back to the present. "Give us a list of stuff you want that you can open in front of everyone, and a list of stuff you need for the baby that you can open in the privacy of your own dorm."

"Okay, I will."

* * *

><p>"What was that you were saying…" Dom grinned at me, shouting over people yelling and the music blaring. "About no one showing up? I do believe you owe me ten galleons."<p>

Before I had chance to respond, another group of people were walking up to greet me. All of them smiling and trying to hug me. It was rather scaring.

"Happy Birthday Amy!"

"You're of age now Swann!"

"Hope you've had a good day!"

"Thanks!" I answered. "I'll see you later." I turned as they walked away. "Do you know any of these people?" I whispered to Dom, making her laugh at me.

"Of course not." She grinned. "You're going out with a Potter. Therefore everyone wants to help you celebrate your birthday!" When I still looked slightly confused, she continued "Think of it as a music concert. The Potter's and the Weasley's are on the stage performing, and everyone else is in the audience, wishing that they could be on that stage with us. You're like the security."

"I'm sorry, security?" I asked, even more confused.

"The guy on the steps up to the stage. The guy who can introduce the fans to the band, or even let them on stage with us. You're like a footstool to the people who want to get in with the Potters."

I'm security." I repeated, bringing back the grin on Dom's face.

"You're security." She laughed, pulling me to the bar where all my other friends were.

"Enjoying yourself?" Holly giggled, holding what seemed to be a glass of elf wine. I nodded half heartedly.

"Apparently I'm security." I said, grabbing a bottle beer.

"At your own party?" Holly shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "That's kind of rude!" Dom smacked her shoulder and took the glass off her.

"That's enough wine for you." She smiled, handing her a bottle of butterbeer instead. Holly pouted, but didn't complain too much.

"Happy Birthday." Someone whispered deep in my ear. I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck grinning.

"I was wondering when I'd see you." I smiled, pulling James closer. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!"

He leaned in and kissed me. "Someone had to pull this whole thing together. And if it had been up to tweedle dee and tweedle dum over there," He pointed in the direction of Holly and Adam. " Your party would have been rubber duck themed."

"Sounds fun." I said sarcastically, making James chuckle. "Seriously, where are all these people coming from? I could swear that there aren't this many people in Gryffindor."

"There's not." He laughed. "The portrait hole has been left open, this is a Hogwarts party now." I glanced around the room, realising now that there were people that I recognised from other houses. Annabel was sitting in the corner with other second years from different houses, David Floods who played on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team was laughing by the fire with his mates, Veronica and her cronies were dancing like sluts on the tables.

"So anyone can come in?" I asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "But if anyone you don't want to be here comes in, we'll get rid of them for you." He gestured to himself, as well as Fred and Sean, both of whom were standing with their significant others. "Of course, I'll have to pull Fred away from his flavour of the week."

"There's just one thing that confuses me." I said, grabbing James' attention once more. He nodded, encouraging me to go on. "If this is a party where people come to try and become best mates with the Potter Weasley clan, then why is _he_ here?"

He turned around to where I was looking, and instantly changed his gaze to a hard one. Flint had just walked into to common room, which was slowly quietening as people noticed who had just entered. Even the music eventually stopped.

"Stay here a minute." He mumbled, moving around me towards him. Sean and Fred, who had finally noticed as well, moved to stand behind him.

"What are you doing here Flint?" James said through clenched teeth. "You stay away from our parties, we stay away from yours. That's always what's happened since your brother picked a fight at one of ours years ago."

"Is there a problem with me wanting to see what the big deal was with your girlfriend's coming of age party?" He smirked.

"Why don't you go before you cause trouble." Sean said in his calm, problem solving voice.

"So she's turning seventeen." Flint continued as if he hadn't heard a word Sean had said. "It's nothing special. I mean, it's suppose to mark the beginning of the rest of her life, right?" When no one answered, he carried on, grinning. "But so much could happen. What stops her from leaving school and getting hit by one of those muggle cars? Or drinking a potion which she thinks is a Calming Draught, but actually turns out to be the Draught of Living Death?"

The room was deathly quiet as they took in what he was implying. James was practically shaking in anger, while I was trying to figure out if he was trying to scare me.

He looked past James, directly at me, before adding "What stops her from standing at the top of a staircase, and someone giving her a push?"

James snapped out of his silent anger. "Are you threatening her Flint?" He spat, but before anything could go any further, Fred and Sean had stepped around him and were pushing Flint and his friends out of the Common room. After a painfully still moment, chatter started, most likely to discuss what happened, and whoever was in charge of music had gotten things running again.

I gently touched James' shoulder to gain his attention. "It's alright." I whispered, trying to put him at ease. "He was just trying to put you on edge. I'm fine, everything is fine."

After a few minutes, he turned around and smiled, but the dark look was still in his eyes. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Let's go back to the bar." I added, pulling him in that direction. When we got there, one of the seventh year girls came up to me, handed me a drink and wished me a happy birthday before walking back to her friends.

"Is this going to happen all night?" I grumbled.

James gave me a tight smile. "That is usually what happens at a birthday party." He looked towards the fireplace where a physical fight starting. "You going to be okay here for a bit, while I go break up the fight?"

"Of course I'll be okay." I gave him a quick kiss before he walked off. Once he was out of sight, I headed to the side of the room where Holly was standing with Adam.

"You like drinking right?" I said quietly. If Holly was a dog, I'd have literally seen her ears stand up with interest.

"Obviously." She replied. "But you do make me sound like an alcoholic."

I shook my head in amusement. "I have a deal for you. Seeing as you've been banned from going to the bar, I'll bring you all the alcohol that gets handed to me. All you have to do is down it and hand me back the glass without anyone noticing."

Holly looked at me in suspicion. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. I just don't want people to notice that I'm not drinking." Without hesitating, Holly grabbed the glass I'd been holding, chugged the whole drink down without blinking and handed it back to me.

"Deal."

I grinned, as she pulled Adam away to dance, and leaned back against the wall.

"This has been quite an eventful party." I forced myself not to grimace at the voice. Without even turning to look at him, I said "I told you Jason. I don't want to talk to you anymore." Followed swiftly by me walking away to find James.

Half an hour later, I was dancing to one of the only slow songs of the night with him. Against my will, a yawn escaped me.

"Tired?" He asked, making me nod apologetically.

"What's the time?" I asked.

"Only half past twelve." He answered, smirking at my shocked expression.

Half past twelve? This pregnancy was wearing me down. "I'm so tired!" I whispered in his ear, grimacing at how tight the Invisibump I was wearing was. "My stomach aches from wearing this stupid contraption all night, I've been kicked to death for the past couple of hours. It seems baby doesn't like dance music. My feet hurt, the drama has made me completely shattered…"

"Amy?"

I looked up mid rant at James' face. "Yeah?"

"Would you like to go to bed?"

I nodded looking relieved. "If that's okay."

* * *

><p>Having gone to bed quite early, I'd missed the last couple hours of the party. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up to find several pieces of fruit hanging up around the dormitory, a massive life size cardboard cut out of a mountain troll by the door and a pile of burnt clothes in the middle of the room.<p>

"What the hell happened here?" I said.

"Stop shouting." came a muffled reply from Dom's bed.

Seeing as I _hadn't_ been shouting, this confused me a lot. I slid out of bed to examine the pile of clothes.

"This is all Holly's stuff." I thought to myself out loud.

"Seriously, keep it down." this time it was from Rose's bed across the room.

"If someone doesn't tell me what happened, I really will shout." The curtains to Dom's bed opened, and a squinting Dom stuck her head out. Her make up was smudged and the word 'LOSER' was written in red ink across her forehead.

"We had a bit too much to drink last night." she whispered.

"I can see that." I replied, amusement growing. "Why may I ask, are you a loser?" She looked confused, until I passed her a mirror.

Dom groaned. "Damn that Heath Kane." She noticed me still staring, and said "It's a very long story."

"I'm listening."

"And I'm not telling. At least not today." I sighed in disappointment, but was distracted by Rose stumbling through the dorm to the toilet. "You alright in there?"

"m'fine."

"You sure?" I asked, as she stumbled back out, pausing slightly as she looked around the room.

"Am I still drunk? Is that a bunch of bananas hanging from the candle bracket on the wall?"

I giggled, "You're not still drunk, there really is fruit hanging up all over the room." She groaned before collapsing on her bed.

"I remember Dom saying that fruit had other uses, but can't remember why fruit even came up in conversation." Rose yawned.

Dom looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"So," I grinned. "Heath Kane had something to do with the loser written on your head, and something to do with fruit." Dom just moaned again and put her pillow on her head.

"Morning." James said, smiling from my bed. I walked back to bed and climbed back in. "Morning." I replied. "Any chance you'll know why there's a pile of burnt clothes in the middle of the room?"

James smirked. "That would be Holly drunkenly trying to start a bonfire."

"But I was sleeping in this room!" I said, shocked.

"I know, I put it out as soon as I could. I'm surprised you didn't wake up, but you were dead to the world." He added.

"whazzhappened?" Holly grumbled.

I smirked, clearly drinking my alcohol all evening hadn't been good to her. "What about the troll cut out? Anyone know why that's here?"

Everyone looked at the door and then back in confusion.

"Nope."

"Not me."

"Where the hell did that come from?"

* * *

><p>My seventeenth party was talked about for weeks. The Common Room took eight hours to clean and we never did find out where the mountain troll cardboard cut out came from.<p>

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you saw it, it was the last day of term. Meaning it was the Easter holidays. Meaning I was meeting my boyfriend's family.

Not that I was nervous or anything.

"They're gunna hate me." I breathed, already thinking of the possible outcomes to shaking their hands and just saying 'Hi, I'm the girl your son knocked up."

"They're not gunna hate you." Al whispered back. "If anything, my mum keeps writing letters to me to find out more about you. It's as if all the info I've given them over the years when you were just my friend is not enough." He rolled his eyes."I can't believe you've never met them before now."

"What if they don't like their son's girlfriend?"

"You'll be fine." Al said, just that little bit too loudly.

"Mister Potter, if you and Miss Swann have time to chit chat, then you can sit with other students who could use for free time for some quick tutoring."

"Nice going" I whispered.

We both moved to our assigned seats for the lesson. Al went to the front next to Simon Wainwright, whereas I went to the back next to….

Next to Veronica.

I groaned under my breath. Slipping into my seat, I turned to her. But Veronica was working silently, ignoring my presence next to her. Which suited me fine.

When the bell rang at the end of the lesson. The room buzzed with excitement. People talking about their holidays and their plans for Easter. So when Veronica tapped me on the shoulder, I almost jumped out of my skin. I turned to see what she wanted.

"You need eyes in the back of your head. I told you, stay away from Jamsie, or I'll make your life hell." She picked up her bag, and left.

What the hell?

"Come on Amy!" Rose called from the door, "We need to finish packing."

**A/N: A rather eventful chapter if I do say so myself :P**

**Next chapter will be easter!**

_"Nearly back to London?" I asked, feeling my palms getting sweaty._

_"Nearly back to London!" James replied, in a tone that reflected the exact opposite of what I was feeling._

_"Great, Wonderful, Perfect, Can't wait!" I mumbled quickly._

_"Stop worrying."_

_I looked unsettled. "I'm not worrying!"_

_James seemed to find me amusing. "Yes you are. When you worry or you're nervous, you get verbal diarrhoea and mumble a lot."_

_"Both of which give great first impressions." I said in a monotone._

I can't believe I've written 50 chapters. It's gone so quickly. Thank you to everyone reading.

nmegirl


	51. My Meeting with the Parents

The next day came quicker than I thought it would. The twenty sixth of March marked the start of the Easter holidays, and the noise and bustle of students excited to go home for a few weeks made it hard to get onto the train. Fortunately, I had a fit and very muscular Quidditch player boyfriend to carry my trunk into an empty carriage.

The journey back to King's Cross was normal. Everyone laughing, playing games. The only two differences were that James and Fred had joined our compartment, and that my heartbeat was getting faster and faster the closer we got to the train station.

"Nearly back to London?" I asked, feeling my palms getting sweaty.

"Nearly back to London!" James replied, in a tone that reflected the exact opposite of what I was feeling.

"Great, Wonderful, Perfect, Can't wait!" I mumbled quickly.

"Stop worrying."

I looked unsettled. "I'm not worrying!"

James seemed to find me amusing. "Yes you are. When you worry or you're nervous, you get verbal diarrhoea and mumble a lot."

"Both of which give great first impressions." I said in a monotone.

"You'll be fine." Rose chuckled. "They'll just want to get to know you."

I replied under my breath. "Yeah I know. _I'm_ worried they won't like what they find."

The train pulled into King's Cross in the early evening. James picked up my trunk as well as his own using magic.

"I'll go drop off our trunks at our car." He said, pulling me to the side as the others filtered out of the compartment. "You go see your mum for a bit and I'll meet you there when I'm done."

I nodded at his suggestion, and we went our separate ways when we walked out of the carriage onto the platform. I spotted my mum easily, standing next to Jack and Aiden by the platform entrance.

Walking over, my mum started grinning when she saw me. Which was weird because she was never this happy.

"Amy! I'm glad I got to see you before you went to the Potters." She pulled me into a hug. "I've got big news for you, but I'll tell you when you come over during the week."

"Me too." I replied, ignoring Aiden and Jack's pointed looks. "James is going to come over in a bit if you'd like to meet him."

Before Mum could answer, Jack scoffed and walked through the barrier. I frowned slightly at his response. "He'll accept it eventually." She said, seeing my expression. "It can't be easy to see his best friend go against the rules and date his sister."

I nodded in grudging agreement, but lit up when I saw James walking over. Grabbing his hand, I introduced him.

"Mum, this is James Potter."

They shook hands in a weirdly formal way. James giving her his best smile as he grabbed my hand once more.

"It's lovely to meet you Mrs Swann."

She grinned back at us. "I've heard a lot about you James. And not just from my daughter." James' smile slipped slightly before he replaced it. "You had better look out for Amy while she's at your house for the next two weeks."

"I will." He promised. He glanced over the heads of all the students before he turned to me. "My parents are waiting for us if you're ready."

"I am." I hugged Mum once more. "I'll see you soon."

"And remember, I have _big_ news to tell you!" She said excitedly, as I followed James through the crowd.

It wasn't long before I caught sight of the family I had been watching the last time I had been standing in this station.

Harry Potter looked exactly like I had pictured him. Just knowing he was within a mile of me was intimidating. This _was_ the guy who defeated the most evil wizard of all time. He was talking to Lily, who was animatedly telling some sort of exciting story, judging from the massive hand gestures. Ginny Potter, chaser for the Holyhead Harpies for five years and now a Quidditch Journalist for the weekly magazine called _Quaffles and Bludgers_, was standing beside him and trying to tidy Al's hair.

"Ready?" James asked me, as we got closer and closer.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I said, trying to smile. I'm pretty sure that it came out as a grimace, by the state of James' expression.

He just smiled broadly, and pulled me faster until I was standing in front of them.

_Oh god, they're staring at me. I should have gone to the bathroom on the train and looked at my appearance. With my luck, I'd probably got pumpkin all over my face from the pasty I'd eaten earlier._

Al was finding my nerves hilarious, and was currently trying to stifle his laughter at my awesome 'grimacy smile'. _Yeah, like grimacy is a word. Now I'm not even making sense to myself. How am I meant to get through a conversation with these amazing, daunting, famous people?_

"Mum, Dad." James started in much the same way I had with _my_ mum. I tried not to get distracted by Lily whacking Al on the arm. "This is Amy."

_They hate me already. I know they do._

It was hard to stop thinking negative thoughts once they started. So you can imagine my surprise, when James' mum smiled at me and pulled me into a hug.

"It's so great to finally meet you." She said in a warm, inviting voice. "I feel like I know you already."

"Maybe that's because you made us all write to you about every single detail about her." Al mumbled under his breath.

Mrs Potter glared at her youngest son, who at least had the courtesy to look sheepish. I was spending all my own energy trying not to shake with nerves and go red with embarrassment.

"Ignore him." She stage whispered to me. "I never knew where I went wrong with that one." She then turned to go in the direction of the barrier, leaving Al gaping like a goldfish, and the rest of the Potters laughing loudly.

When Mr Potter, James and Al had put all the trunks into the boot of the car, I was surprised that there was any room left for people to get in. It turned out however, that the Potter's Land Rover had been expanded inside, clearly with the use of magic. I shouldn't have been surprised really.

The drive wasn't long, but I was aware of both of James' parents casually glancing back at me in the rear view mirror all the way there.

I felt something nudge my knee. Looking down, I followed the hand and turned to face James.

"I'm glad you're coming home with me." He said as quietly as he could. Of course, the inside of a car is quite compact, so everyone would have heard no matter how loud he said it. Lily looked happy, whereas Al was miming being sick.

I felt the corners of my mouth lift. "I'm glad I am too." He grabbed my hand, gave me a bright smile, and turned away to talk to Lily.

The car pulled off the main road and down a private drive, surrounded by enormous trees and woodland. After several minutes, the scenery cleared, leaving room for the first view of the Potter Ranch.

"Wow!" I gasped, all too aware that I was gaping at the house, but unable to get my jaw to function normally. James looked amused.

"It's really something isn't it?"

"Yeah." I said breathily. "You live _here_?"

"Relax Ames." Al snickered. "It's just a house."

James glared at him once more before turning back to me. "So you like it then?" I gave him a look of incredulity.

"Like it? I love it. It's amazing."

Mr Potter slowed the car to a stop outside a massive garage. Even the garage had a homey look to it. All the Potters climbed out and headed to the boot.

"James?" Mrs Potter called, stopping by the front door as Lily went inside. He looked up from where he had been pulling both mine and his trunks out of the car.

She gestured for him to come closer, with which he did in hesitation. When he was finally in front of her, he said "Yes mum?"

Mrs Potter gave him a ironic grin before whacking him across the back of the head. "Ow!" He yelled over Al's howls of laughter. "What was that for?"

"That was for getting a girl pregnant." She replied, before whacking him across the back of the head once more.

"Stop hitting me!" He shouted, rubbing the place she'd it him.

"That was for not telling me yourself." She said, turning and walking into the house. James' dad walked past carrying Lily's trunk inside using a levitation spell.

"I tried to talk her out of hitting you, but you know how headstrong your mum is." He chuckled. "Glad to have you home, James." Al dragged in his trunk behind him.

Only James and I were left outside now. "I'm sorry." I whispered, making him turn in my direction.

"Not your fault." He said. "Actually I was lucky it was only a smack around the head. My mum can do a mean bat bogey hex when she's really angry."

"You're not angry at me?"

James lifted both our trunks with the same levitation spell his father had used. "Of course not. To be honest, I thought she'd yell more, but she must have got it all out when she sent me the howler."

This time I giggled. "You got a howler? I didn't know that."

"That's because mum made sure to send it so I wouldn't get it during breakfast like most of the mail." He grinned back at me, now that I was relaxing slightly. "I was deaf for days."

He walked next to me as I made my way into the house through the white front door and pulled me up the staircase as I gawped at the interior of the entrance hall.

Now when I say entrance hall, it wasn't nearly as big as Hogwarts' entrance hall, but it certainly wasn't a little box room where you just hang your coats and take off your shoes. A circular room with white marble floors made the room look classy, but not cold. The white staircase around the edge made the room feel even bigger than it actually was.

Portraits and Photographs covered the walls, of past and present relatives. A Picture of James with a cheeky grin when he was a kid caught my eye and made me chuckle at how cute he was.

"What?" He asked, as we reached what must be the first of many landings.

"Nothing." I replied, and tucked myself under his free arm as we continued to walk. He shook his head at me, and walked up the next set of stairs. By the time he stopped, we had reached the second floor. Opening a door, we walked in to see a big four poster bed with red curtains. The room was inviting and so the first thing I did was drop down onto the bed.

"This is your official room." He said, putting one of the trunks down on the floor. "But you don't have to stay in here. You can come in my room if you like." James leaned against the door frame. "I kind of like sleeping next to you."

Lifting my head off the bed, I asked "Won't your parents mind if I sleep in your room?"

He smiled. "Actually, when I asked my mum if you could, she said and I quote 'It's not like you can get her pregnant again, but I'll give her a guest room as well, for appearance's sake'. So I'd say she's fine with it."

* * *

><p>Later that evening, James and I were walking back down the stairs to dinner. And for the first time, I would be walking into a room full of strangers without an invisibump on. My pregnant belly would be exposed for everyone to see.<p>

It's all James' fault really.

_Walking into James' room, I collapsed onto the bed again without even looking around. I winced as I landed._

_"What's wrong?" He asked, looking worried._

_"It's nothing." I said. "Just these Invisibumps again. I swear, the further along I get, the less time I can put one on for." I reluctantly pulled myself up off the mattress._

_"So take it off." James shrugged, turning to unpack his belongings from his trunk._

_Even though he'd turned around, I sent his back a glare of disbelief. "These people are your family, I don't want them to judge me."_

_Instead of nodding in agreement like I thought he would, he scoffed and walked over to me. Standing behind me, he wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder. "They all know you're having my daughter. I'm pretty sure that most have seen the picture of the scan I sent to mum as well. Trust me, they're all eager to meet you."_

_Hesitantly, I asked "You're sure?"_

_"I'm sure."_

Damn James Potter and his charm.

We walked into the living room, and I felt rather than saw everyone's eyes first land on my face, and then drop to my stomach.

"See. I told you I should've put one on." I mumbled under my breath to James, who seemed at ease ignoring my statement. Instead he happily strolled across the room, pulling me behind him, and stopped when he reached a seat by Fred.

Of course, when we got there, he offered the chair to me. I could practically hear all the girls in the room 'aww' at James in their minds. Fred smirked at James, who just rolled his eyes in response, before moving so James' mum and another woman could sit down.

"Amy." Ginny said, beaming as she sat down next to me, the dark skinned woman smiling at me as well. "This is Angelina. You'd probably know her better as Fred's mum." I inwardly thanked her for trying to ease me into the very big Weasley Potter gathering, and chuckled at her comment.

"It's nice to meet you." Angelina grinned. "It's good to finally meet the girl who's causing quite a stir." I blushed bright red, making her say "In a good way." James had already walked off to get drinks.

"How are you finding it?" she asked, looking interested.

I breathed slowly to calm my nerves. "It's going okay."

"Well you look amazing." She responded, smiling. "Pregnancy suits you." Before I could respond, James was back with our drinks, a butter beer for both of us.

"Everyone's here." James' dad said, causing everyone to look in his direction. "Shall we go into the dining room?"

In a flush, all the Weasley's stood up and followed him out. James guided me into expensive looking room. Victorian wood flooring made the room feel warm, without looking like they'd just forgotten to put the carpet down. The light fittings were black, but made the room look more cosy than gothic.

Everyone carried on their own conversations for the first part of dinner. It was only when we were on the main course that James' conversation with George Weasley, owner of Weasley's wizard Wheezes, became the main topic of discussion, with everyone listening in.

"So have you chosen any names yet?" Fred's dad asked, peaking the interest of everyone at the table.

I swallowed the piece of food I was eating down my dry throat. "Ummmm…..actually no. We haven't even really looked."

"We've been thinking about getting to check ups on time and making sure the baby is okay." James added, looking thoroughly chilled out. The exact opposite of how I was feeling. "I'm sure we'll be getting to names soon though."

"There's plenty of time." Ginny said, giving me a calming smile.

"What about a crib?" Rose's mum said in an excited tone. "I loved going shopping for all the stuff the baby needed."

A couple of the women on the table grinned in agreement, but the groans of the men were more noticeable. "Just wait until Amy has you running around carrying all the furniture and toys you buy." Rose's dad whispered in our direction causing most people to laugh, and his wife to slap his arm in response.

"As long as you've started planning your birth plan with your healer, then that's all that matters." said Angelina.

"Oh but you can't forget the parenting classes." Bill, Dom's dad, added, with her mum nodding eagerly beside him. "You need to book those early, before you even need them. Lamaze classes fill up really quickly."

"And lot's of baby clothes." Harry interrupted. "The number of them we went through with spillages and sick going everywhere was shocking."

I started to panic. Trying to keep your breathing rate steady when you're panicking is not an easy feat. James was looking at me with a worried look on his face, and started to stroke my hand to try and calm me down.

We didn't have any of that stuff done. We hadn't gone shopping, or signed up for classes. Up until this point, I'd even forgotten that my kid needed a name. How could I be so stupid? If I called her LBP for the rest of her life, surely it would be cruelty to children. There's no way that she wouldn't be bullied.

Or taken away from me.

"Do you mind if I go to the bathroom?" I asked, already standing and pushing my chair back. Without waiting for an answer, I walked quickly out of the dining room, and up the stairs to the bedroom that had been given to me.

At least that was where I had been planning to go, until my stomach decided it needed to heave up my dinner.

Standing at the top of the stairs, I saw a bathroom directly opposite where I was. I ran in, locked the door, and threw up in the toilet. It was lucky I got there in time. _Nothing says a wonderful girlfriend for your son like puking all over your floor._

"Ames?" I heard James' voice calling through the door. "Ames, are you okay?"

I fell back away from toilet, and letting my head fall back against the cool, tiled wall. "I'm fine." I said, even though I could tell my voice was shaking. "I'll be back in a second. It's just normal nausea." If it _was_ normal to freak out that is. But James didn't need to know that.

"You don't sound okay." He replied bluntly. "Do you need me to get you anything?"

"Honestly, I'm fine." I lied. "Go back to the table. I'll be down in a bit." I could hear him shuffling outside for a few minutes, before sighing and walking away.

Reaching up to get some tissue to wipe the sick from my mouth, I relaxed against the wall, waiting for me to calm down some more. We were in no way prepared. Hell, I hadn't even told my mum yet. Did I expect her not to notice when I walked into the house with a child in my arms?

"Amy?" A gentle, more feminine voice made it's way through the door this time. "It's Ginny. Can I come in?"

I hesitated. This was uncharted territory. I'd never been alone with James' parents. What would I say? Should I attempt to make myself look a bit more together before I talk to her?

I'm sure I could fit through the bathroom window easily if I open it all the way. A second floor window can't be that far from the ground can it?

"I just want to talk." She said in a calm tone. "Please let me in?"

Maybe James was with her? He wouldn't expect me to fit in with his parents on my own already right? I stood and shakily made my way to the door, pulling to lock open. Opening the door open a little bit, I could see Ginny Potter standing outside with a worried expression. And no James.

_James Potter had better look out next time I see him._

"Perhaps you'd be more comfortable talking in a room other than the bathroom." She stated, giving me a comforting smile. I blushed in embarrassment.

"I'll be right out." I walked over and flushed the toilet, splashed a little water on my face and walked back outside to where she was waiting. She wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and took me down the stairs.

"Are we going back to the dining room?" I asked.

She shook her head. "We're going to my room. Harry's got his study to work in and have 'me time'. It's only fair I get a _study_ too." She smiled slightly at my worried look. "I'll be nice I promise."

When I walked into Ginny's room, I gawked in awe. At one end, a dark oak desk sat, covered in organised parchment, quills and books. A few bookcases lined the opposite wall, surrounded by red comfy looking chairs and a huge sofa. A fireplace against the far wall gave the room a homely feel.

"This place is amazing." I said, still gazing around the room.

Ginny grinned once more. "Well I like it." She led me to the sofa. "So were you really just feeling sick? Or is there something else that's troubling you?"

"I'm fine." I replied, saying the words that came so easily to me recently. "Must just be morning sickness. Though why it's called morning sickness I'll never know. It's not as if it only comes during the morning. I get it in the afternoon and the evening as well. It should be all day sickness really." I knew I was nervous by the way I was most definitely just talking to fill the silence. But did I stop?

No I did not.

"I'm sure I should have stopped throwing up by now. At least the book says that there should be some relief from morning sickness during the second trimester. But I'm about thirty weeks now and you know, still throwing up. I'm babbling aren't I?" I took a breathe, making Ginny giggle.

"Just a bit, but you shouldn't worry that you're talking too much." She smiled warmly. "I do it myself whenever I'm worried or stressed."

I opened my mouth to once again reassure her that I was okay, when she cut me off.

"And I know you're about to tell me that you're fine, but you also don't have to keep everything to yourself. We are here to help in any way we can." She paused to allow me to understand what she was saying. "I've had three children. I've brought up two boys who like to play around with invisible cloaks and maps with secret corridors on, and a daughter who is more outspoken that she looks. If you have any worries or questions about anything, you can talk to me. It can't be easy being pregnant so young."

I stared straight ahead into the fire. "There's just so much stuff that I haven't done before the baby comes." I summed my worries up into one sentence.

"Like what?" She said. "Tell me what you haven't done, and I will show you that you don't need to worry about it. I'm good at finding solutions."

I let a small sigh out as I started to list the numer of things that I hadn't done. "Well we haven't even looked at any names yet."

"Some parents don't even have names ready when they are holding their child in their arms after they've given birth." She replied. "It's a big decision, and it's not something that you have to do by a certain date before she's born. Trust me, you'll know what she'll be called as soon as you know."

I gave a hesitant nod. Maybe I had been panicking for nothing. "And birth plans? I mean, I don't even know when my baby is due."

"Unless you ask your healer when your baby is due, they don't tend to tell you until your last check up scan. Hermione says that they tell you much sooner in the muggle world, but healers don't think it necessary until later. After all, it's just one more thing you have to remember and panic about." She gave me a pointed look when she said the word 'panic'. " The birth plan doesn't have to be in place until then as well. Angelina is just the type of person who likes to plan ahead."

"What about the birthing classes?" I asked without any hesitation now. I was feeling more comfortable with James' mum every second. "Dom's dad mentioned that you had to book them early."

"Usually you book them in advance." She looked thoughtful. "But I'm sure we could pull a few strings. You should really be starting them about now, the earlier the better." I was extremely grateful. Having not told my mother yet, I hadn't had the chance to ask any of the questions you are _meant_ to ask your mum. Right now, Ginny was the closest thing I had.

"Thank you so much." I replied honestly. "I really needed to talk to someone."

"Don't worry about it. Any more questions you have, don't be too shy to come ask me." She stood up, making me do the same. "I was thinking you should have a baby shower at some point as well. But we can come back to that later. We should really head back to the table."

* * *

><p>"I love your mum."<p>

James was currently walking around his room in a pair of boxers, having just had a shower before getting ready for bed. Whereas I was lying on his bed, waiting for him to jump in.

"I'm glad." James grinned, putting the clothes he had been wearing in a washing basket. "She likes you too you know."

"She told you that?" I didn't know whether to smile, or sigh in relief.

He nodded, crawling up the bed to lie next to me. "She thinks you're down to earth, kind, considerate and out of my league." I chuckled and snuggled in closer.

"She's clearly joking about that last part."

"I'd like to think so, seeing as she's my mother." He smiled, wrapping his arms around me. "She said you're a catch, and that I shouldn't let you go. Secretly I think she really does think you're out of my league, and I'd have to agree."

"Well, one parent down, one more to go." James turned the light off with his wand. "What does your dad think of me?"

"He hasn't really met you yet. Not properly. But don't worry, he'll love you."

"I hope so." I relaxed back against him. "I'm going to floo home tomorrow. I've waited long enough to tell my mum that I'm pregnant."

He raised his head a little of the pillow so he could see me. "Do you want me to come with you?"

I shook my head. "Jack is still there remember? He may be getting used to the fact that I'm in a relationship, and that I'm having a baby, but he's still not okay with you. I need this mother daughter talk to go smoothly. The less drama there is, the better."

* * *

><p>At ten o'clock the following morning, I thanked Ginny for the breakfast she made me, I said goodbye to James, and flooed over to the Swann Residence.<p>

As soon as I landed in my living room, I could tell that something felt different.

At first, I couldn't tell what it was. Whether or not it was something out of place, or a feeling in the atmosphere. But after a few moments, I began to see what I hadn't seen to begin with.

Two coffee mugs sitting on the table by our sofa. The television set to a channel that neither my brothers nor my mum ever watched. A jacket I didn't recognise on the coat stand by the door.

And a briefcase I most certainly did. It was older and a lot more tatty. But it was still black and engraved with three letters.

_J.W.S._

"Ames!" My mum came running into the living room with the biggest smile on her face that I'd seen in a long while. "I was wondering when you'd come visit."

Before I had chance to respond however, she cut me off.

"You'll never guess who showed up here a few weeks ago. We've been meeting regularly ever since. I told you! I told you that he'd come back."

A man, who was as familiar to me as he had been years ago stepped into the room around her. Like the briefcase, he was a lot older than he had been last time I'd seen him, with a few more lines on his face.

"You're a lot bigger than you were the last time I saw you Princess."

The muscles around my jaw tightened. I could feel the anger that I hadn't felt since he'd left build up in me, fuelled by the pregnancy hormones in my body.

"Dad."

**A/N: DUH DUH DUH!**

**New character alert! Were you expecting that?**

**I'm sorry for the cliffy again. But it makes life more interesting : )**

_"What are you doing here?" I asked, shocked but happy to have my best friend here with me._

_"I got Dom to invite me to dinner tonight." Holly squealed. "You don't think I'd miss Mr Weasley scaring the shit out of Malfoy do you? It's entertainment gold!"_

_"Will you stop trying to make my relationship with Scorpius like a soap opera please." An annoyed Rose grumbled._

_Holly looked thoughtful. "Maybe Mr Weasley will kill Malfoy to protect his daughter's honour." She jumped up form the sofa looking excited. "I'm gunna go get Mr Weasley a shovel!"_

**Sooooo sorry it took so long. But lucky for you, it's an extra long chapter so that you don't hate me so much.**

**nmegirl**


	52. My Father is Back

I'm sure the reaction I was giving him now wasn't the one he had expected.

I hadn't moved. Not even an inch. My mouth was still set in a tight line as I tried to move my thoughts away from picking up something very heavy and hitting him over the head with it.

His grin, which had been on his face from the moment he walked into the room, slowly started to fade while he started fidgeting. Mum, however, didn't bat an eyelid.

"Well aren't you going to say anything?" She said, practically jumping up and down. "Your Dad's back! After all these years. We're going to be okay." I could feel my hands shake next to me. "I'll leave you two to get reacquainted."

After she left the room, my eyes moved straight back to _him_. At least he had the decency to look guilty.

"Why?" I whispered. "Why come back now?"

He shuffled his feet around before answering. "I made a mistake."

"You made a mistake _ten years ago_!" I replied tightly. "What makes you think that you can just walk back in and everything will be okay?"

"Look Princess….."

"You lost the right to call me that when you walked out."

"You don't understand. I didn't want to leave."

I scoffed. "Because you were forced away from this family against your will." I added sarcastically.

"Look," He started, raising his voice. "I lost my job. I ran up debts. I added nothing to this family. I didn't want to let you all down."

"Well you did." I lowered my voice significantly, looking down. "You should have stayed. You should have stayed when you lost your job, and kept looking for a new career. Instead, you ran up a heap of debts, and left us to deal with them while you ran away."

_There he goes with the guilty look again._ So I kept going. "Do you know how hard mum has been working since you left? She's got three jobs. She always looks tired, and that's because she doesn't have time to breathe let alone sleep."

"I'm going to make that up for her." He said confidently. "I know this sounds completely stupid, but I didn't think you'd all be affected like this."

"I can't stay in here with you." I replied, standing up and already making my way to the kitchen. I didn't look back once.

* * *

><p>I've always thought that sitting in my back garden and watching the trees in the distance blowing in the wind was one of the most calming things you could do. Which is why I wasn't surprised to find myself walking to the very same spot after I left the living room.<p>

"Hey sis."

I looked up, and saw Jack sit down next to me. I gave him a weak smile. "Hey Jack." I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I see you've met father of the year." He tried to laugh it off, but I could see the anger in his eyes.

"How can he just…" I sighed, taking a breath in. "How can he just walk in here and expect everyone to welcome him with open arms."

"Well I won't." He replied, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "In fact, I'm not allowed to go near him until Mum says otherwise."

"What?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Something about me wanting to beat him up." I laughed, but felt my stomach twinge, and started rubbing my bump. Jack frowned.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." I said, sighing in relief as the sharp pain faded away. "All this stress can't be good for the baby."

"Have you told Mum yet?" He asked.

"Actually, that's what I came here today to do." I tried to smile, but it just wasn't happening. "But…._other things_ got in the way."

"Just get it over with." Jack added. "She's your mother, she's not going to ignore you afterwards."

"Aiden did."

Jack scoffed and gave me a look. "Aiden is fourteen and an idiot sometimes."

Well would you look at that, Jack did the impossible and made me laugh. "There you go." He smiled, before switching the subject. "How is it at the Potters?"

"It's great!" I answered. "Ginny is amazing and everyone is really supportive."

Jack nodded in agreement. " I love them, Mrs Potter is always lovely, and Mr Potter is so easy to talk to. He still plays Quidditch with his family. Every time I see him play I always wonder why he didn't become a professional."

"I haven't really talked to him yet." I said, biting my lip in worry. "What if he doesn't like me?"

"He'll love you." We settled into a comfortable silence, but a few minutes later, Jack decided to break it.

"Potter treating you okay?"

I smiled at his concern for my wellbeing. "Yeah, he's been great." Jack nodded to acknowledge what I'd said, but didn't bring up James again.

"So why don't you go tell Mum now?"

"With Dad here? No way." I shook my head.

He stood up. "Stay here a minute." He walked off back into the house, leaving me sat alone. It wasn't long before another silhouette was walking out towards me. When they got closer, I could see that it was Aiden.

"Alright?" He said, sitting down in the exact spot that Jack had been sitting in previously.

"Yeah, you?" I smiled, as he nodded his response. "Where did Jack go?"

"He's gone to talk to Mum." He answered. "He told me you were here, so I came to see you. How's the baby?"

"She's good. She's been kicking more than normal lately."

"That's good."

Aiden was being quieter than normal. "What's wrong Aid? I can always tell when you're keeping something from me."

He sighed. "I haven't got many memories of Dad, but you and Jack seem to be really angry at him. Is it wrong that I kind of want to know him? Even if he did walk out on us?"

"Well, you were only four when he left." I said, looking back at the swaying trees. "If you want to get to know him, then that's your call. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I can look after myself." I hugged him to show my support.

"It's great that you three are getting along now," a voice said. "When you were here at Christmas, I thought you'd never talk to each other again."

We both turned to see Mum grinning at us. Aiden came my shoulder a squeeze before standing and walking back into the house.

"Jack told me you wanted to talk to me." She said, once again sitting in the same spot. "Away from your father."

"He told you that, did he?"

"I'm so sorry that I just sprung this on you. But what with him living here now…"

"He lives here?" I said in shock.

She nodded. "I asked him a week ago, and he was eager to move in."

"Mum." I groaned. "Don't you think you're taking things a little too fast? I don't want you to get hurt again. Don't you think this is a big risk?"

"I love him Ames." She said in complete honesty. "If you can't take risks with someone you love, then you're playing life too safe. Didn't you think it was a bit of a risk to keep seeing James behind your brother's back? It's working for you. Jack is on your side, and is getting better at talking about his old best friend everyday."

I thought about what she'd said. In my head, James still seemed like less of a risk that Mum's relationship with Dad.

"Let's forget about it for a moment. What did you want to talk to me about?"

I felt my heart beat faster. I'd been putting this off for months, worried about how she would react when I told her the news.

"You have to promise that you won't be angry at me," I started, feelings the tears start to fall. I was terrified right now.

"Why would I be angry?" she asked, confused.

"And that you won't shout."

Her confusion was growing. "I'll try not to."

"And that you'll still love me." I sobbed.

"Oh Honey." She pulled me into her arms. "I will _never_ stop loving you. I think you're working yourself up too much."

"I'm….." I struggled to tell her.

"You're what Sweetheart?"

"I'm pregnant."

* * *

><p>"Thanks for the tea." I whispered sipping the hot beverage that my mother had made me.<p>

After I'd blurted it out, she was shocked, as expected. However, being a Mum she knew exactly what to do next. Which was take me into the house, make me tea, and try to calm me down enough to talk about it.

"No problem." She replied, drinking from her own cup. "So…..how far along are you? I'm guessing from how long Jack and James haven't been speaking, you're at least three months."

Guilt. Unrelenting Guilt. This is something I should have told her as soon as I found out. Maybe even when I had a feeling that I might be. Not something months down the line.

"Ummmm….." I hesitated. "About 31 weeks."

SMASH.

Mum dropped the cup she had been holding. "31 weeks? That's nearly seven months!"

"I know I should have told you sooner, but I couldn't write it to you in a letter, and then Christmas happened and everyone was angry at everyone, and you were working, and then I went back to school…"

"Ssshhh calm down." Once again being gathered into Mum's arms, she stroked my hair like she used to. "It's okay. I'm not going to pretend I'm not disappointed, and not just about not being told. This isn't what I wanted for you. I wanted you to have a career, and settle down."

I felt like I'd let her down.

"In saying that, however, if you and James are happy, then I'm happy for you. I'll help support you as well."

"No. you've got enough mouths to feed. Me and James are going to make sure this baby is looked after, that she's got everything she needs."

"She?" Mum smiled down at me.

"Congratulations Grandma," I laughed back, wiping the tears off my face. "You're going to have a granddaughter."

She grinned, before looking me up and down. "You don't look pregnant."

I pulled the Invisibump off, and watched my stomach appear from nowhere. "Don't you just love magic?"

* * *

><p>Falling out the fireplace in the Potter's kitchen, a hand reached out and helped me stand up.<p>

"How did it go?" Al asked, letting go of me when I was standing.

"It was…..eventful." I smiled, taking a deep breath to let out all the tension I was feeling. "where's James?"

"Outside playing Quidditch with the family." He answered. "I just came in to get a drink. You coming outside to watch?"

I nodded, and followed Al outside to the Quidditch Pitch. When we approached it, Al flew up on his broomstick to join the other players, and I went over to sit next to Dom's mum, Rose's mum and a woman that I hadn't met yet.

"Amy!" Hermione said, gesturing for me to sit next to her. "This is Emilia. Emilia and her husband Charlie weren't at the dinner the other night."

I smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." She answered with a beam, before turning to look to my left. "Danny don't fly too high!" I turned to look around, and saw the cutest sight I'd ever seen. A small blonde boy was flying around on a toy broomstick, squealing in joy. It tugged at my heartstrings.

"Is that your son?" I said, still looking a the adorable picture.

"Yes." I could hear the smile in her voice. "That's Danny."

"How old is he?"

"He's six." I turned back to her. "I also have a daughter, Reese, who's nine months old."

I sighed at the sight of Danny giggling. "He's gorgeous." This made Emilia grin proudly.

"Thank you." She added. "I'm sure your daughter will be just as cute. How could she not, with both you and James as her parents."

I didn't have chance to respond, because James flew down, dropped his broomstick next to me, and pulled me up straight into his arms.

"How did it go?" He mumbled into my hair, wrapping his arms around me.

"Fine." I said, pulling him as close as I could. "Better than expected actually. Not once did she say she was going to hunt you down and kill you."

James chuckled. "Good. I kind of want to be here right now." As he pulled back, he said "I'm glad you've told everyone."

"Something else happened while I was there." I continued. James' face had a worried look on his face. "My Dad's back."

"What?"

"He showed up weeks ago, and he's moved back in with my mum." I answered. "I don't want to see him. I mean, he just walked out on us. Like we didn't mean anything to him."

"You don't have to go back if you don't want to." He said, trying to make me feel better. "Your mum can come here if you want to see her."

I smiled. "That's nice to know."

* * *

><p>We were getting ready the following day for dinner, when a well known ball of energy came running into James' room.<p>

"Hello People!" Holly squeaked, jumping onto the bed. "I'm here now!"

"HOLLY!" James yelled in shock. "I could have been naked!"

Holly looked him up and down once, taking in the fact he was topless but had jeans on, and shrugged. "Lucky you weren't then isn't it?" she said, sitting down on the sofa in his room. James gave her a bemused expression, before pulling a shirt on. Rose walked in looking exasperated.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, shocked but happy to have my best friend here with me.

"I got Dom to invite me to dinner tonight." Holly squealed. "You don't think I'd miss Mr Weasley scaring the shit out of Malfoy do you? It's entertainment gold!"

"Will you stop trying to make my relationship with Scorpius like a soap opera please." An annoyed Rose grumbled.

Holly looked thoughtful. "Maybe Mr Weasley will kill Malfoy to protect his daughter's honour." She jumped up form the sofa looking excited. "I'm gunna go get Mr Weasley a shovel!"

"She's not _really_ getting a shovel, is she?" Rose asked, looking slightly worried, before running out after her.

"Well you could never say this family wasn't entertaining." James said, grabbing my hand and following them.

By the time we got downstairs, everyone was staring at Rose and Holly, who were wrestling over a shovel. All the grown ups were extremely confused. At least the kids knew which of the two would have started the whole scenario.

Rose only let go when the door bell rang, shouting out 'I'll get it!' and running out the room. Of course, this left Holly holding the shovel. Grinning, she ran over to Rose's dad.

"Mr Weasley, I thought this might be useful for you today when you meet Scorpius." It was only when Al walked forward and started dragging her out of the room, that Holly shouted "JUST IN CASE YOU KILL THE GUY!"

Me, James and most of the others couldn't stop the giggles from coming out at the sight of Rose's dad holding a shovel with a bemused expression on his face.

"Is that girl all there?" He asked, making us kids laugh even more.

All noise went down when Scorpius walked into the room next to Rose. Mr Weasley's face instantly changed from confusion to warning. He glared at Malfoy, who looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Things are about to kick off." James whispered in my ear, causing me to have to stifle my chuckle.

"Nah they're not." Fred responded, having heard his whisper. "Aunt Hermione had a word with Uncle Ron while you two were still upstairs. Under no circumstance is he to say anything that will scare Malfoy off."

"That won't stop him." James smirked. "Care to make a bet?"

"Sure." Fred smirked back. "Ten Galleons?"

"You're on." James replied, walking into the dining room holding my hand.

When everyone was sitting down, Ginny, Angelina and the Potter's house elf brought in all the food. Just like last time, the food was amazing. And because of how amazing this family was, I didn't have to worry about how much I was eating and getting revolting looks.

The funniest thing of the evening was watching the interaction between James' Uncle Ron and Scorpius Malfoy. While Ron was glaring at Scorpius, both his wife and daughter were glaring at him.

"So Scorpius…" Hermione started. "What do you want to do after Hogwarts?"

"Well, I was thinking about working in the Ministry….." Scorpius said, getting interrupting by Ron scoffing.

"Using the influence of his father." He mumbled under his breath, receiving a punch to the arm from his wife.

"Actually I wanna work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports." Malfoy replied, ignoring his girlfriend's father's glare.

Everyone tried to move past the awkwardness, and learn more about Scorpius, but it wasn't long before Ron was having his say again.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?"

"Intentions?" Scorpius squeaked back.

"Yes, Intentions."

"Leave him alone Ronald." Hermione scolded.

"But 'Mione…" Ron whined.

"No buts Ronald. Let the boy eat his dinner without giving him the third degree." The sulk that Ron went into for the rest of the dinner was hilarious. He tried to open his mouth to speak once, and all he got was a death stare from his wife. If he hadn't been trying to make Scorpius' life a misery, I may have felt sorry for him.

At the end of dinner, everyone went back into the lounge. Once Hermione and Rose had left the room, Ron held on to the back of Scorpius' top and stopped him from leaving the room. The only people left in the room with them were me, James, Fred, Mr Potter and Holly. Holly who was practically bouncing in her chair at the prospect of seeing Mr Weasley _kill_ Malfoy.

"If you hurt my daughter, I will make sure that no girl will ever show interest in you again. And cause you a lot of physical pain in the process. Do I make myself clear?"

Scorpius nodded quickly, and as soon as Ron let go, he ran out of the room. Most likely to find his girlfriend. James' dad was laughing his head off.

"You think that's funny?" Rose's dad asked. "Just wait until Lily brings a boyfriend home." Mr Potter sobered up extremely quickly.

"So that's ten galleons isn't it?" James said to Fred smugly.

Several families had already left, so I felt that it would be okay for me to go back upstairs and relax. Pregnancy really takes it's toll on your body. As I walked past one of the rooms, something inside caught my attention.

Emilia was standing over a cot, smiling at a baby chewing on a soft toy. I walked in slowly so I wouldn't startle anyone.

"Is that your daughter?"

She looked up, instantly transferring her smile to me. "Yes it is." I walked over and looked in as well.

"Would you like to hold her?"

I looked up surprised. "I don't want to drop her."

She chuckled softly. "You won't." Emilia picked up Reese form the crib and held her out for me to take. Once I was shown the right way to hold a baby, it wasn't long until I was cuddling a sleeping nine month old..

And it felt right.

I couldn't wait to hold my own daughter in my arms.

**A/N: So I've had an eventful few weeks. Sorry for the long wait.**

**Peek Time!**

_"I'm here to talk to my sister Potter, so if you don't mind I'd like it if you took your sneaky, arrogant asshole self away from me before I kick your face in."_

_"Jack, stop being a dick!"_

_He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time. "I'm only trying to get some privacy so I can talk to you without nosy sods listening."_

_"It's about time you put your differences with James behind you." I retorted. "Even if it's only to make me happy."_

**Thank you for sticking with this story so long. I can't believe how many people like it : )**

**nmegirl**


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